Criminal Court backlog measures OK’d, two-year reappraisals stayed
Here’s a roundup of some other items on Monday’s Shelby County Commission agenda, which was overshadowed by budget deliberations and votes on the wheel-tax hike.
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Here’s a roundup of some other items on Monday’s Shelby County Commission agenda, which was overshadowed by budget deliberations and votes on the wheel-tax hike.
The proposed wheel-tax hike, to fund the rebuilding of Regional One Health’s campus and new Frayser and Cordova high schools, fell two votes short of the nine votes needed. It was then one vote short in a late attempt to keep the funding option alive.
The $50 wheel tax hike on the County Commission agenda is key to Mayor Lee Harris’ plan to finance $350 million toward rebuilding the Regional One Health campus and building two new high schools.
The new state law requiring elected judges to make decisions about releasing defendants accused of violent felonies takes effect July 1. The County Commission is asking General Sessions judges to start doing that immediately.
The delay in the vote came after it became apparent the nine-vote two-thirds majority wasn’t there in the first of two votes. County Commission calls on judges to enact new release restrictions earlyRelated story:
The doubling of the $50 annual wheel tax is integral to County Mayor Lee Harris’ plan to expand the county’s capital budget from $75 million annually to $150 million.
During Wednesday committee sessions, Shelby County commissioners set up later votes on a property rate that would remain the same while a commissioner’s resolution to do away with the wheel tax altogether waits in the wings.
County Commission Budget Committee Chairman Michael Whaley talks about the proposed doubling of the county’s capital budget on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Mayor Lee Harris is proposing dropping the rate, but the votes weren’t there. Meanwhile, another effort to take a possible step toward ouster proceedings against County Clerk Wanda Halbert came up short.
The study will consider how much waste enters landfills compared to recycling, composting or other waste-processing facilities over the course of at least two seasons.
The Monday commission meeting has a short agenda with votes toward a new solid waste plan and funding for a new prekindergarten classroom in Millington.
Harris also outlined the funding and timetable for historic county capital projects — the rebuilding of the Regional One Health campus and new high schools in Cordova and Frayser.
The Wednesday, April 26, presentation by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris includes a multi-year $350 million funding commitment toward a rebuild of the Regional One Health campus and money for new high schools.
The commission took action on the two project as part of a light agenda Monday, April 17. Meanwhile, the county continues to search for another fire station site in southeast Shelby County.
The Shelby County Commission votes Monday, April 17, on a contract for a new county fire house in a part of Corova de-annexed by the city of Memphis in 2021.
The commission voted to return Pearson to the District 86 state House seat at a special meeting Wednesday, April 12.Related story:
The march from the National Civil Rights Museum to the county building comes ahead of the Wednesday, April 12, county commission vote to appoint Justin J. Pearson to his District 86 seat in the state House of Representatives.
“I have heard from my constituents, people across the county, and state as well as Republicans and Democrats, so I will be voting to reappoint Justin Pearson,” said one member of the County Commission.
The Shelby County Commission has filled two vacant seats in the Tennessee General Assembly from Shelby County in the past year — one following an expulsion and the other resulting from the death of a legislator. Here is how the process works.
The Shelby County Commission postponed indefinitely a plan to buy the Metro Shopping Plaza, which is on the northwest corner of E.H. Crump Boulevard and Danny Thomas Boulevard.
Also on the commission’s Monday, April 3, agenda is funding for more prosecutors and a return to a plan to buy the old Metro Plaza Shopping Center in South Memphis for up to $3.5 million.
Approximately 31% of the 1,279 bonds set between Feb. 15 and March 15 resulted in the release on recognizance, or release without bail, according to a report presented during a Shelby County Commission Law Enforcement, Corrections & Courts Committee meeting Wednesday, March 29.
Wanda Halbert met March 29 with county commissioners who pressed for specifics on a lease at Poplar Plaza and an opening date for the Riverdale Road office. One commissioner pushed his call for her to resign.
“To unite Memphians around solving Memphis’ problems for Memphis’ future, we need nonpartisanship. We need to keep nonpartisanship in City Hall and bring it back to our county government.”
A $350 million Regional One financing plan can move forward, but the county will need to get a committed funding match from either Tennessee, Mississippi or Arkansas.