There are 42 article(s) tagged 2020 budget season:
The plan to balance the county budget came apart when the commission put too much weight on the idea that federal reimbursements for county dollars spent on the pandemic freed up about $4.8 million. It didn't. Then a move to cut the sheriff's department budget brought two weeks of protest over the George Floyd incident into the discussion.
Shelby County commissioners got within $11 million of rebuilding County Mayor Lee Harris’s consolidated county budget proposal before calling it a day and leaving the rest for a Monday commission meeting.
Passing the $707.8 million city budget saw $1.8 million from a dozen line items moved around to items council members wanted and the use of city reserves that leaves the rainy day fund at a low level of 7% of the budget that starts July 1.
Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson said a lack of federal regulations on the use of $113.6 million that came to Memphis is "crazy," but warrants careful use of the money.
The review by the council budget committee continued Wednesday with no major changes to the $708.8 million operating budget proposed by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. The full council is scheduled to take final votes on the budget and a stable city property tax rate next week.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer also talked about the rift between the Democratic county mayor and the eight-vote Democratic majority on the commission.
The $26 million in red ink is mostly from drops in sales tax revenue because of the closing of "nonessential" businesses in the pandemic. The plan for the current fiscal year, including more use of the city's reserves, was presented to city council members Monday with a vote possible at Tuesday's council session.
City council member Martavius Jones, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, said a proposal to cut MATA funding by $10 million is the first item in the city budget book that got his attention.
City council budget committee chairman Martavius Jones talks about the city budget season and the effect of the pandemic on city finances.
Strickland says the city's $113.6 million federal CARES Act grant cannot be used to make up for revenue losses to the city as things stand now, causing a $40 million dip into the city's $78 million reserve fund without raising taxes, laying off employees or raising salaries for city employees.
Strickland has three possible options for a city budget proposal in the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Also on the council agenda is the first steps toward a $354 million MLGW bond issue, a resolution calling for no restrictions on absentee voting by mail and an ordinance to require face masks in all public places in the city.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about his $1.4 billion COVID pandemic county budget on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
Once Mayor Jim Strickland presents his budget proposal to the Memphis City Council Tuesday, here are some dollar figures and percentages from the current fiscal year with which to make some comparisons.
Strickland's Tuesday budget address to the Memphis City Council reflects some uncertainties about the financial hit city revenues have taken in the pandemic. It was already going to be a difficult budget year by Strickland's estimate before the arrival of COVID-19.
The tax hike and restoration was approved by city voters in 2019. But there are doubts that the revenue from the extra half-cent is enough to pay for the return of benefits the city cut in 2014.
Speaking at the Frayser Exchange Club, Strickland also said the city will step up its efforts toward "opportunity youth" and talked of the coming of expanded pre-kindergarten that he described as "a whole new mindset" starting this fall.
The roundup of line items with relatively small amounts of money comes as the Strickland administration offers its first details of what the coming city budget proposal will include in a "tight" budget season at City Hall.
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