County mayor proposes budget with no property-tax hike
The budget proposal includes a 6% pay raise for county employees. The county commission begins budget hearings later this month with votes on the plan some time in June.
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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 budget proposal includes a 6% pay raise for county employees. The county commission begins budget hearings later this month with votes on the plan some time in June.
Jennifer Fason spoke before a crowd of 200 who gathered at Orange Mound Community Center Tuesday, April 30, at the latest One Memphis forum led by Memphis Mayor Paul Young.
The 6% proposed raise for all county employees comes two years after Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris proposed and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners approved a 5% pay hike.
The groundbreaking at Willow Park in East Memphis Tuesday, April 30, is the start of building the infrastructure for a fiber broadband network that is to connect the system to at least 85% of the city.
A cemetery for the Deaderick Plantation, which later became the core of the Orange Mound subdivision, has been ground zero for efforts to chart what life was like for those in the Reconstruction era after slavery.
After the Native American inhabitants of Chucalissa left the mound settlement in the 1500s ahead of European explorers arriving in the area, the area became a large cotton plantation.Related story:
The cobblestone landing project got underway in 2017. It seeks to make the public and historic space on the city’s harbor more accessible with amenities like floating restaurants.
Marquita Bradshaw is running again statewide after a surprising Democratic primary victory four years ago in her first Senate race. Meanwhile, Whitehaven has a new Republican organization.
The $17 million renovation is the first public library in Orange Mound. Mayor Paul Young said the project is an answer to the gunfight last week in the community that killed two and wounded seven.
Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright criticized General Session Judge Bill Anderson’s push for more defendants to be released on their own recognizance.
The D.C. Scorecard finds some bipartisanship among the state’s House delegation to Washington. The city’s two Congressmen — one Democratic and the other Republican — voted for aid packages to Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel — although for different reasons. The state’s two Republican Senators voted against the aid.
The Memphis in May event at Liberty Park will also have celebrity pitmasters doing cooking demonstrations and 129 teams from 22 states and four foreign countries competing for barbecue honors.
The Saturday shooting that killed two and wounded seven came up in Tuesday, April 23, City Council committee sessions where Interim MPD Chief C.J. Davis talked about federal charges and a shift in strategy.
Young presented his budget propsosal including the first tax hike in more than nine years for the city Tuesday, April 23, at the top of Tuesday’s Memphis City Council meeting. Council budget deliberations begin next month.
The council also passed a resolution opposing the state legislation that allows teachers to go armed on school property after the bill cleared the House earlier Tuesday in Nashville.
The call for a corrective action plan isn’t binding on County Clerk Wanda Halbert, who is an elected official outside the county administration. The sponsor of the resolution says he doesn’t expect Halbert to submit the plan.Related story:
The commission also killed an appeal by an Eads developer seeking to start on a multi-phase project and a tie-in to the City of Memphis sewer system.
In addition to a property-tax hike, Mayor Paul Young is also expected to rearrange some city priorities in his first budget as mayor.
U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Germantown, is also running unopposed in his August primary after the state GOP kicked perennial contender George Flinn out of the primary.
Tom Lee Park is expected to welcome its 500,000th visitor this month, eight months after its formal opening on the Labor Day weekend. The park closes next Sunday for the Riverbeat load-in, but will reopen partially between the music festival and the SmokeSlam barbecue contest.
While past votes on County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s office and its problems have been unanimous, Monday’s vote may not be. The commission also tries to take a final vote on changes to Shelby County Land Bank after delays.
Lonnie Robinson, one of the artists who worked on new stained-glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple, talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation-workers strike to the landmark’s windows.
A reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines” talks about Mayor Paul Young’s property tax hike proposal, new figures showing a drop in crime and first moves by the new MSCS superintendent.
The separate I-55-Crump Boulevard roundabout currently under construction just east of the old Memphis-Arkansas Bridge got a lot of attention at the first public hearing on the new bridge, planned for just south of the existing one.
The percentage of students who are chronically absent from schools jumped dramatically in Memphis from the 2018-19 school year to the 2022-23 school year. It’s a national trend that’s also seen in the area’s suburban schools. Chronic absenteeism: Myriad of issues keep MSCS students homeRelated story: