Nashville think tank cites tax incentives for “Nashville 9-1-1” in government waste report

For the second time, Ford BlueOval City has made a list of wasteful government spending compiled by a think tank. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Tax subsidies for a TV show based in Nashville, a planned automotive campus in West Tennessee and the purchase of a hotel by Memphis officials top an annual list of wasteful government projects published by a libertarian think tank. . 

The Pork Report, compiled by the Nashville-based Beacon Center, singles out the Tennessee Entertainment Commission for committing $10 million in tax incentives to back “Nashville 9-1-1,” a show featuring fictional first responders in Music City. 

The incentive package is the most approved by the state for a TV show, edging out the amount approved for filming “Nashville” in 2015. 

Making the list for the second time was Ford BlueOval City, a Ford Motor Co. manufacturing project in Haywood County. In a 2021 special legislative session, state lawmakers approved a $900 million incentive package for the plant, which was slated to produce the Ford F150 Lightning, an electric pickup truck. 

The first trucks were scheduled to roll off the line in 2025 and when the legislature approved the incentives, Sen. Page Walley, a Bolivar Republican, described the event as “our crossing the Jordan.”

After multiple setbacks amid slowing demand for electric vehicles and the rollback of tax credits for the purchase of them, Ford announced in December it will scrap plans to produce electric trucks at the facility, switching to gas-powered trucks.

The purchase of a Sheraton Hotel in downtown Memphis with $30 million in bonds approved by the Memphis City Council rounded out the list. The hotel, attached to the Renasant Convention Center, had fallen into disrepair that was deterring meeting bookers from renting space, city leaders said when approving the purchase.