City of Memphis
City Council Scorecard: the road to a 75-cent property-tax hike proposal
The City Council Scorecard looks at the April surprise that scuttled plans by Mayor Paul Young for a budget proposal with no property-tax hike.
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Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
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The City Council Scorecard looks at the April surprise that scuttled plans by Mayor Paul Young for a budget proposal with no property-tax hike.
The ordinance that sets the county property tax rate still has a blank where the rate goes. But commissioners approved Tuesday where the pennies on the tax rate go based on keeping the $3.39 rate the same.
The council takes the second of three votes Tuesday, May 21, on raising the city’s monthly solid-waste fee and decides six wages disputes between the city administration and labor unions.
The County Commission has several Shelby County Sheriff’s Office items to vote on Monday, from emergency money for new jail door locks to calling for collaboration on what happens next at the juvenile detention center on Old Getwell Road.
City Council members talked Thursday, May 16, about at least whittling down the tax hike proposed by Mayor Paul Young, with discussing other revenue sources, during a town hall forum at New Salem Baptist Church in South Memphis.
“We consider it to be defunding police,” a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office official said of a proposed budget that cuts 441 vacant positions from the Sheriff’s office, a $31.4 million impact.
Wanda Halbert says she’s working on a plan, but she said her reports may still be late or inaccurate, the software auditors recommended doesn’t work for her office and the county is not funding her enough.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris told the Memphis Rotary Club he has asked leaders of both of the city’s health care giants about becoming involved in the rebuild of Regional One Health. But he also admitted the discussions haven’t gotten very far yet.
Asked about Halbert’s statements, Mayor Lee Harris told The Daily Memphian: “I’m shocked by everything you just said. The rabbit hole has gotten deeper.”
Memphis City Council members weigh a 75-cent tax hike as Shelby County commissioners have to make some decisions about change to the funding for a Regional One Health rebuild.
The nomination takes place against a backdrop of a dispute between Republicans and Democrats in the chamber over a procedural custom for notifying senators of the opposing party that was suspended during the Trump administration.
After his heroic efforts to save 32 people from a capsized excursion boat on the Mississippi River, Tom Lee worked as a city sanitation worker and lived in the Klondike neighborhood.
Against a wall of windows facing a wind-swept Mississippi River, a small group of people at Beale Street Landing raised a toast to Tom Lee Wednesday, May 8, in the park named in his honor.
The political roundup reviews Mayor Paul Young’s tax-hike pitch to citizens in Orange Mound. Also Justin J. Pearson on the shaky state of Democratic unity, and Telisa Franklin opens her campaign for the District 96 seat.
School board candidates on the August ballot talk about MSCS superintendent Marie Feagins’ vision for the district.
The hike in the monthly solid-waste fee was passed on the first of three votes by the Memphis City Council. They heard there could be increases in the fee as they also weigh a property-tax hike. Shelby County solar-farm regulations issue comes to a close at City CouncilRelated content:
The final vote on the joint city-county ordinance came a day after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners approved the same compromise.
Memphis City Council members talked about better camera surveillance and other measures with Memphis Parks Director Nick Walker.Related story:
Two resolutions to fund the clerk’s office, including a pay raise, were withdrawn from the County Commission’s agenda Monday, May 6, without comment.
The vote came with some important changes to accomodate large solar arrays within the city that MLGW pushed for. The Memphis City Council votes on the measure Tuesday, May 7.
The administration of Mayor Paul Young wants the council to take the first of three votes Tuesday, May 7, on a $6.98 increase in the solid waste fee. The administration also will outline changes it would make to garbage collection with the increase.
County administration has yet to review the raises, which are one of several resolutions on the Monday, May 6, agenda.
Reginald Coopwood says on “Behind The Headlines” the hospital’s shift to an academic center involves growing medical specialties that could fund itself. Coopwood also addressed calls for more funding from Arkansas and Mississippi.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about the move to county financing of the first phase of the project over the next decade. Meanwhile, CEO of Regional One said the anticipated state funding didn’t come through this year.
The $6.89 fee hike was among the focal points as City Council members held the first in a series of public forums Thursday, May 2, to gauge public opinion on the proposed 75-cent property-tax hike.