Reporter
Bill Dries covers city government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 1817 articles by Bill Dries :
Some of the changes proposed and outlined on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast address issues that came up in the allegations made against county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. in an independent investigation made public last month in The Daily Memphian.
Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner and Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald talked on “Behind The Headlines” about property tax hikes passed and up for a final vote, respectively, in the cities they lead and why the estimated share of federal ARPA funds in each of their cities took a tumble in the latest estimates.
The legal opinion will be about the chain of events at the June 7 session that led to the first approval of the $3.46 county tax rate.
Shelby County Schools officials say the Head Start contract with Porter-Leath is unprecedented in terms of its autonomy. A Porter-Leath representative says the relationship started to go bad two years ago.
A move for a 31-cent tax hike never got to a vote, with a council majority voting down a rule suspension to consider going up on the tax rate. That and other votes Tuesday, June 15, closed out the city’s budget season.
Before the council gets to final votes on operating and capital budgets, it will take up a call to raise property taxes by 29 cents to an even $3. The current city tax rate of $3.19 was lowered to $2.71 by the state to take into account the increase in property values with this year’s countywide property reappraisal.
Douglas Emhoff was just in the city last month to push the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan.
The Monday, June 14, groundbreaking starts with a youth sports complex that is the centerpiece of the $126 million project about where the Libertyland amusement park once stood.
The shortened park season opened with water in the Riverwalk. But other parts of the upgrade in the 39-year-old attraction have been delayed. Meanwhile, there was an attempt on the City Council to get the park’s long-dormant monorail up and running again that didn’t pan out.
Mairi Albertson, the city’s director of Housing and Community Development talks on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about the citywide plan, and says the lessons of the pandemic indicate broadband has to be able to handle several people online at the same time.
Here are some of the highlights, including additional funding for MATA, from the county budgets for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The County Commission Scorecard tracks the critical votes on county government’s various budgets during the June 7 session that, for the most part, ended the budget season.
The announcement of the removal of the remains was made Friday, June 11, in Health Sciences Park, where Forrest and his wife had been reinterred for more than 100 years after originally being buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
The County Commission’s vote approving a one-cent property tax hike and the City Council’s consideration next week of a 29-cent city property tax hike were the dominant topics in a reporter’s roundtable on “Behind The Headlines.”
The announcement comes 11 days after work began on removing what is left of the monument. The work was also to include the reinterment of the remains of Forrest and his wife.
The start of construction follows last-minute changes in the project that upped the price by $6 million and added more courts. The center will keep the name of the Marine lieutenant colonel for whom it is named.
Our scorecard of critical Shelby County Commission votes tracks the set of votes this week that led to the approval of a one-cent increase in the recertified county property tax rate. The votes were more complex than usual with some parliamentary drama that almost brings down the curtain on another county budget season.
The tax hike requires one more vote by the commission after notice is given to the public and the Board of Equalization with a chance for public comment. The commission also approved $1.3 million in recurring funding for the Memphis Area Transit Authority.
The path of the two budget seasons and the use of federal funds to close financial gaps — plus other topics — are the focus of a reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines.”
The late 1950s or early 1960s painting of the Cossitt Library surfaced last month. It was set aside during a cleanup of the Downtown landmark, and the rediscovery marks a turn in fortune with a renovated Cossitt set to reopen in the fall.
Martavius Jones says he will push for the increase at next week’s council session.
Republican county commissioners who voted two weeks ago in favor of a resolution urging Gov. Bill Lee to veto a ban on teaching critical race theory took back their yes votes Monday. The resolution still passed.
Police issued an arrest warrant Friday, June 4, on a charge of assault against the crew worker who berated and threatened Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer Tuesday in Health Sciences Park.
Meanwhile, a City Council member who is term limited said he may be on the 2022 ballot for Shelby County Commission and an incumbent commissioner says he will probably seek another term.
The Monday, June 7, session of the County Commission could mark the end of the 2021 budget season with a series of final votes on a $1.4 billion consolidated budget and a county property tax rate considered stable if it drops from the current $4.05 to $3.45.