NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Nashville Mayor Karl Dean delivered his eighth and final State of Metro speech at the Main Branch of the Nashville Library Thursday morning.
The speech has become an opportunity for the city’s mayor to tout the previous year’s accomplishments and also to promote items in the coming year’s city budget.
In this morning’s speech the mayor announced plans for major renovations to Overton and Martin Luther King Magnet schools, and for the construction of a new elementary school in the Cane Ridge area.
The mayor also announced the latest in a string of new programs designed to help the city’s immigrant population.
“In 2012, Nashville held the fastest growing immigrant population of any American city. Today, 12 percent of our population was born outside of the United States, and nearly half of the immigrants entered our country since the year 2000.”
Other highlights of the mayor’s speech included announcement of a 2.5 percent pay raise for city employees and the commitment of $149 million dollars to build a new justice center, including a new county jail.