Nashville Mayor David Briley and At-large Council member John Cooper clashed over city finances, progressive politics and more during the first televised debate ahead of the Sept. 12 mayoral runoff.

Briley, who trailed after the Aug. 1 general election, repeatedly sought to draw contrasts between himself and Cooper.

The debate was sponsored by The Tennessean, NewsChannel 5 and Belmont University. It took place at Belmont's Troutt Theater.

Here are three takeaways from the debate.

Briley attacks Cooper's progressive politics

Briley continued his attack on Cooper’s progressive credentials.

In a question about a recent letter from the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury expressing concerns about the city’s budget, Briley blamed Cooper and his “conservative friends” on the Nashville Metro Council for being behind the letter.

Briley repeatedly attacked Cooper for over-focusing on financial issues. The mayor also touted his own progressive track record.

Briley has focused on winning over progressive voters since the general election.

“One of the things I’ve learned in my 18 months is there are not enough hours in the day to do everything you want to,” Briley said. “So if you want to make a difference about the fact we still have a legacy of racial segregation, if you want to make a difference about the fact that immigrants in our town are afraid, if you want to make a difference about the LGBT community in Nashville that is being hurt, you’ve got to make it a priority, you’ve got to make it a value.

“It has to be before numbers. It can’t be subservient to the budget," Briley said. "It has to be something you’re focused on every single day. And that’s what I’ll do as mayor.”

Cooper responded that progressive policies are dependent on strong financial stewardship. The first-term councilman stayed true to his campaign platform that the biggest issue facing Nashville is the financial health of the city.

In his closing remarks, Cooper said it will take financial and business skills to make the adjustment that will allow Nashville to be a great city in the future.

Help support more local journalism like this. Become a subscriber today.

Briley expresses open mind to raising taxes

While Briley and Cooper have sparred over financial issues facing Metro throughout the campaign, the candidates have actually agreed on the issue of property taxes.

Briley and Cooper each opposed proposals in the last two years to raise the property tax rate. But at the debate on Monday, Briley seemed open minded to raising taxes.

“I’ve moved our city forward, and I’m willing to consider as we move forward whether or not we need to raise revenues to fund teacher pay and pay for our police officers,” Briley said.

Cooper doubled down on his opposition to raising taxes.

“No. I’ve consistently (been a no vote) on taxes, and I have been consistently over time,” Cooper said. “If he felt as if we should be raising taxes, he’s had two years to do that. The question for Nashville is to bring balance into our finances including getting additional revenue from downtown revenues.

“This asset is going to make us the greatest city in the country in the next years ahead. Now is the time for a strategic readjustment for the city ahead, not raising taxes, which would be unfair to people whose costs are already going up.”

Briley accused Cooper of being dishonest with voters about what can and can’t be done with tourism taxes generated downtown. Those taxes are set aside to pay for the Music City Center.

While most of those taxes have strings attached that make it difficult or impossible to spend that revenue on other programs, Briley’s administration has negotiated $20 million from the Convention Center Authority to the general operating budget.

“I’ve gotten more than any other mayor from those revenues to support our city,” Briley said. “But the fundamental truth is that if we want to fund our teachers, if we want to fund our police officers, if we want to pay for our neighborhoods, we can’t take the property tax off the table like my opponent has just done.”

The latest Nashville news, at your fingertips. Download our free app.

Education key focus for candidates

In addition to city finances, education has been a big part of the mayoral campaign. Both candidates have said more must be done to provide teachers with better pay. And although the mayor has no direct control over how Metro Nashville Public Schools are run, both candidates vowed to do more to support education.

Some Nashville public school teachers on Friday received a $5,000 bonus. The one-time stipend is for newly recruited teachers in the city's 23 lowest-performing schools, or Priority Schools, to teach English, math or science classes. It was also for those who specialize in exceptional education and English-learning instruction.

Briley and Cooper said such incentives are important.

"I know that priority schools are a critical issue in our city," Briley said. "I have spent time in many of our priority schools and what you see there are a couple of things: Teachers overwhelmed. Administrators overwhelmed. Kids getting left behind."

Teacher pay, Briley said, is a big part of "fundamentally changing that," and that while $5,000 is a difference, it's "just a start," he said.

Cooper said the city needs to return teaching to a middle-class profession.

"That is the kind of encouragement that we need to provide, not just one time, not as a bonus but something teachers can count on," Cooper said. "Only by doing that are you going to repair the career ladder pay for teachers. Teaching used to be a middle-class profession and we need to return it to a middle-class profession."

Get the headlines you care about most. Discover our slate of newsletters.

Cooper reminded the audience that he is the candidate on stage backed by the teachers union, saying that they know that together, with him, they can bring education back to where it has to be.

"It is the limiter of our growth," he said.

But Briley made some of his strongest comments to date on the state of education in Nashville. He said the city’s schools have re-segregated and the city must address the issue.

"We have a new crisis in our city," Briley said. "For 20 years we had integrated schools. We no longer do. And we are frankly leaving behind way too many children as a result of it and we've all got to put our shoulder to the wheel to see a change to the system."

"I will fight every single day as mayor for each and every one of those kids who getting left behind because they don't have the resources in a priority school."

A Tennessean subscription gets you unlimited access to all the latest Nashville politics news, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.