County Commission returns to question of more frequent reappraisals
The commission delayed two earlier votes on moving to an every-other-year cycle for property reappraisals from the current four-year cycle.
Bill Dries
Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 3663 articles by Bill Dries :
-
April 2021
-
Shelby County -
Elections Political maneuvering begins for 2022
Cary Vaughn is the new chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party as Democrats outline a long-term data-driven strategy and the county’s only Republican elected official opens her re-election campaign.
-
Shelby County Commission approves formation of Black caucus
The commission also approved a $161,250 contract renewal with Global Tel*Link Corp. for maintenance and licensing of the telephone and video communications system at the Shelby County Jail.
-
Shelby County County Commission withdraws reappraisal proposal
The proposal by Assessor Melvin Burgess would have moved the cycle of countywide property reappraisals for taxation purposes from once every four years to every other year.
-
City of Memphis City Council Scorecard: Old motorcycles, pipeline distances and minority business
The City Council Scorecard focuses on a short-lived plan to give old police motorcycles to Collierville, a first vote on a pipeline measure and qualms about setting a minority business percentage.
-
Shelby County County Commission approves $2.45M settlement in jail tracking glitch lawsuit
The federal class action lawsuit was filed in 2016, a month after a new computer system was installed by the county to track the movement of pre-trial detainees through the criminal justice system.
-
City of Memphis Byhalia Pipeline spokesman says group interested in talking
The offer to talk came Tuesday, April 27, at a Memphis Rotary forum at which the pipeline companies and the most visible pipeline critic each spoke. Proposals are pending before the council that would require more local approval.
-
Metro City’s national representatives react to Biden’s ‘American Families Plan’
With much of the plan already outlined well before Wednesday’s speech, reaction from the city’s two congressmen and the state’s two U.S. senators was set along partisan lines. There was a social media blitz by all during President Joe Biden’s remarks.
Related story:
-
City of Memphis City Council to gather in person for first time in more than a year
Members to meet Downtown for budget retreat.
-
Premium
City of MemphisDowntown Tourism Development Zone lost $5M in sales tax
On “Behind The Headlines,” the incoming CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission says federal pandemic relief funding due the city will likely make up the loss. The drop in sales tax revenue for the TDZ comes as sales tax revenues across the city have exceeded bleak projections at the outset of the pandemic.
-
City of Memphis Memphis Police Chief nominee talks protest and policing in online forum
Memphis Police Chief nominee Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis met the public on a limited basis Friday, April 30, during a one-hour online Q&A session with screened written questions.
-
-
May 2021
-
Premium
City of MemphisMorgan says resetting local property tax rate could spawn tax hike move
City Council budget committee Chairman Worth Morgan said that the drop of the city property tax rate below $3 as appraised values have increased could set the stage for a tax rate hike.
-
City of Memphis City Council starts budget ‘Super Bowl’ at convention center
The retreat Saturday, May 1, marks the first in-person council meeting in more than a year. It included new details of $16 million in bonuses to city employees in Mayor Jim Strickland’s $716 million budget proposal and a flap over whether team-building exercises and a tour of the Renasant Convention Center were open to reporters.
-
City of Memphis Second Gentleman visiting Memphis to push Biden’s infrastructure plan
Douglas Emhoff and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh are among a blitz by the administration to promote President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion “American Jobs Plan.”
-
City of Memphis Masked City Council members meet warily in person for budget talks
A budget committee meeting Monday, May 3, drew 12 of the 13 council members together at City Hall for the first time since mid-March of 2020. The in-person meetings continue Tuesday with a full slate of committee meetings before the 3:30 p.m. session of the council.
-
City of Memphis Council will talk to police chief nominee, revisit 16-year old evictions ordinance
The Tuesday, May 4, council day includes a possible vote on the nomination of C.J. Davis to be the new police chief. And the council has a proposal to change eviction set-outs 16 years after its last attempt to bring some order to the process.
-
City of Memphis Byhalia Pipeline project reaches key City Council vote
What began as a more general ban of underground pipelines in the city is now a specific ordinance that allows existing underground infrastructure to be grandfathered in. It also allows companies to seek exceptions from the council to the ban.
-
City of Memphis City Council, pipeline companies working out terms of truce
On Tuesday, both sides in the pipeline dispute agreed to put their actions on hold until July.
-
Update
Public SafetyDavis confirmed as new Memphis Police chief
Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis became the new leader of the Memphis Police Department Tuesday, May 4, in a council vote that was almost unanimous.
-
Real Estate Landmarks Commission won’t control Crosstown Mound for five years
The council approved the larger Crosstown overlay district without the 9-acre mound Tuesday, May 4, in the first of several votes on the blueprint for control of design standards by the Memphis Landmarks Commission.
-
City of Memphis City shuffles mix of bonds for Accelerate Memphis slate
The council also approved a new seven-year lease between the city and the Withers Collection Inc., which has been behind on its rent.
-
City of Memphis Slate of improvements — including new sign — planned for Mud Island
Memphis could soon have a daily reminder that we don’t have “time for things with no soul.”
-
Premium
City of MemphisShort-term Audubon Park golf course plans could get longer look by city
The temporary fix of cart paths on the golf course could wait to get a feel for what a larger makeover similar to that underway on the Overton Park golf course might involve.
-
City of Memphis Emhoff, Walsh push for Biden White House jobs and infrastructure plan
The Second Gentleman and the U.S. Labor Secretary pushed Thursday, May 6, for support of the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan proposal in Whitehaven and Downtown. They offered different definitions of infrastructure and what is necessary beyond the pandemic for economic recovery than the state’s two Republican U.S. Senators.
-
City of Memphis Mayor Strickland proposes police, fire retention bonuses
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Friday, May 7, that he is proposing bonus pay for police and firefighters over the next three fiscal years.
-