County hiring freeze continues to thaw with questions about budget numbers
Shelby County commissioners approved a waiver to the freeze Monday for county firefighters but put off another waiver for 78 more positions in other departments.
Topic: Shelby County Commission
RSSThere are 909 article(s) tagged Shelby County Commission:
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August 2020
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Tight county budget, plus term limits, hurt hiring, commissioner says
Milton's argument comes as the head of information services for county government says his lean budget could exacerbate problems hiring tech employees. The commission votes Monday on a set of exceptions to the county's hiring freeze totaling 104 positions and nearly $7 million.
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Familiar county budget tensions surface as CARES-Act-COVID-funding deadline nears
Shelby County Commissioners want to try a swap out of federal CARES Act funding similar to one city council members did a week ago. But tensions left over from a rough county budget season that ended in June are hanging around.
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County budget still fuzzy seven weeks into new fiscal year
County commissioners vote Monday on a waiver of the county's hiring and pay freeze, and nearly 100 more waivers requested by officials are waiting in the wings. Commissioners say they need a budget book with specific line items and dollar figures to know whether the waivers would put the county in the red.
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July 2020
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County budget season still echoes short of a ‘budget book’
It's been a month since a county government budget was approved for the fiscal year that began July 1. But until that detailed budget is printed in black and white, there is still some wrangling underway, some distrust and the hiring freeze the county imposed may be melting.
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‘Ban the Box’ wins final approval on county side
Taking a question about past criminal convictions off the county's job application involves a set of complex rules for hiring those with a criminal past. The new ordinance pushes the consideration to later in the hiring process.
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Jones elected new County Commission chairman
Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones will move from the number two spot on the commission to the chairman’s job next month. -
County Commission delays vote on new public health board
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County Commission to take final vote on ‘Ban the Box’ initiative
Also on the agenda for Monday, July 27, is a vote on creating a county health board that commission Chairman Mark Billingsley is seeking to delay. And the commission elects a new chair for the next year as it nears the two-year mark of its current four-year term.
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Billingsley says Ford-Ray dueling letters ‘pretty antagonistic’
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the County Commission chairman says the differences between the two don't appear to extend to the rest of the commission. Mark Billingsley also said he hopes to move to lift the county hiring budget freeze once there is a reconciliation of the budget approved by the commission last month after rejecting Mayor Lee Harris's original proposal.
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Absentee ballot count stands at about 11,000, Phillips says
So far, the return by voters of the unusually high number of the mail-in ballots hasn't shown up in the early voting turnout figures. Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips told county commissioners Wednesday, July 22, that some absentee voters may not complete their ballots because they are expecting to see the presidential general election that is on the November ballot.
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County Commission approves alcohol ban at county functions
Though it’s expected to be amended, Shelby County Commissioners approved Monday, July 13, a ban on alcoholic beverages being served at county facilities.
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Shelby County Commission approves Quinn Ridge proposal near Collierville
The Shelby County Commission approved John Porter's controversial Quinn Ridge proposal outside Collierville in southeast Shelby County.
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County imposes hiring freeze and review to hold line on ‘tight’ budget
The proposal comes as County Mayor Lee Harris has 46 requests from other countywide elected officials to add positions two weeks into the new fiscal year. Harris also served notice Monday that next budget season he will be back with some kind of proposal to raise revenues to avoid layoffs and cuts in services that are a real possibility this fiscal year.
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County ‘Ban the Box’ proposal for ex-offenders gets more complicated
Some significant amendments to apply the program to private contractors pushed a final vote to July 21.
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County Commission to take final vote on ‘ban the box’
The proposal would remove from county government employment applications the check box or question that asks whether the applicant has been convicted of a criminal offense.
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County Commission continues budget reckoning at first in-person meeting since March
The Wednesday committee sessions drew most of the 13 commissioners, with the remainder attending online. Also debuting was a partitioned commission chambers with glass barriers between the elected officials and masks worn in the booths created for them.
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June 2020
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Harris: New budget means layoffs, cuts in vital services likely
The county mayor also said in a "Behind The Headlines" interview that he has no regrets about his budget proposal that the commission rejected, which included a wheel tax hike with some budget cuts and an ambitious five-year plan to fund new school construction.
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City Council, County Commission return to in-person meetings after 4th
The Shelby County Commission is planning to install plexiglass barriers when it returns to its chambers next month. The Memphis City Council is making arrangements to find a new temporary meeting place. Its City Hall chambers are still undergoing a renovation that began before the pandemic.
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County Commission passes first police reform resolutions
The nonbinding resolutions approved by the Shelby County Commission call for adoption of “8 Can’t Wait” use of force measures for law enforcement and call racism a pandemic with associated health issues for people of color.
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County Commission cuts use of reserves in approving budget and stable tax rate
What was already a challenging budget year was complicated in county government by the pandemic's economic damage and a decision by the County Commission to reject the budget proposal by County Mayor Lee Harris. The commission rejected a proposed 8-cent property tax rate hike.
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Road to new county budget remains rocky and uncertain
The commission takes up the budget again Monday, June 22, at its regular meeting, a week after voting to use $16.5 million in the county reserves to balance expenditures and revenues. But since then, questions have emerged about the changes the commission made.
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Shelby County Budget: The email trail
Internal emails show disagreements between the county administration and some of the countywide elected officials outside the administration of Mayor Lee Harris about budget cuts and other changes to the consolidated county budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
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County Commission appears to balance budget with $16.5 million use of reserves
The six-hour special meeting Monday sets the stage for a final budget vote in a week. But there are questions about the dollar figures approved by the Commission and how much red ink there is to be dealt with after the moves. Two social media posts during the meeting by County Mayor Lee Harris also complained that there would be layoffs and cutbacks in critical county programs.
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Health Department outlines steps toward Phase 3
Alisa Haushalter provided guidelines for residents to follow that will help move the county toward Phase 3. Additionally, she addressed Shelby County Commission's decision to provide additional funding for hiring 141 new positions.
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