For 20 years, Beacon’s Pork Report has exposed waste, fraud, and abuse throughout Tennessee. Now, we’re giving you examples of “pork” in real time, and we’re relying on you to help us identify and call out pork in your area.
Nashville hiked property taxes 60% in five years to fund essential services like schools, roads, and public safety—or so the mayor said. Instead, nearly a million of those tax dollars are going to political advocacy: $735,000 to TIRRC (whose political arm supported Mayor O’Connell’s campaign) and $219,000 to private lobbyists paid to influence the state capitol a short walk from city hall.
Johnson City hiked property taxes 20% to fund a new $37 million aquatic center—a sticker price that balloons to $55 million with interest, plus an ongoing operational subsidy the city’s own feasibility study admits will be required. All this while pool admissions at existing city facilities have dropped 34% over the past decade. Fewer swimmers, bigger tab.
Tennessee is considering $30 million in state tax incentives—plus potential additional subsidies from Nashville’s mayor—to lure a Starbucks Southeast corporate office that the company already publicly committed to opening in Music City, an amount that could instead repave 500 miles of roads or hire emergency personnel.
$45 million is just the latest amount of money the government wants to spend to make something out of nothing in Hamilton County, where the latest proposal for McDonald Farm—which has been mentioned in our Pork Report three different times—is to turn it into yet another state park.
The $10 million in tax dollars for 9-1-1: Nashville recently took home the “prestigious” title of Pork of the Year in the 2025 Pork Report. Now, lawmakers are considering expanding Tennessee’s film incentive program, even though across years and states, film incentives have shown to be a terrible investment.
Do you know of government waste or abuse in your community? Let us know where we should be looking!
Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss an update.
"*" indicates required fields
For media inquiries, contact Taylor Justice at taylor@beacontn.org.
COPYRIGHT © 2026 BEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE