There are 24 article(s) tagged Sales Tax Referendum:
Strickland told city council members Tuesday that the referendum isn't binding on the city and that most voters would support such a use of extra revenue beyond a restoration of benefits cut by the city six years ago. The idea is still in the talking stage, with Strickland to take his plan to the council in April when he presents his city budget proposal.
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.
We review the city election year, the third car fee and whether a half-cent sales tax hike will restore benefits for police and firefighters.
The incoming and outgoing leaders of the Memphis City Council agree the city probably doesn't have enough money from a half-cent sales tax hike approved by voters in October to fully restore benefits cut by the city in 2014.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris discusses the sales tax referendum, MATA and more with host Eric Barnes and The Daily Memphian’s Bill Dries.
On Oct. 3, we voted in a half percent sales tax increase, raising our sales tax to nearly 10%. The police and fire unions campaigned to get the issue on the ballot, promising to restore benefits cut in 2014, but other city employees would be cut out of the tax increase windfall.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said on "Behind The Headlines" he would veto an attempt by the county to take a share of the revenue from a city sales tax hike approved by voters to restore fire and police benefits.
The City Council gets its first detailed look Tuesday at a Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division rate hike proposal and talks with Mayor Jim Strickland about next steps in restoring benefits to police and firefighters.
On "Behind The Headlines," Jim Strickland says the city should be able to fund the restoration of benefits with the recently approved half cent sales tax hike for several years. Beyond that, expenses will probably exceed revenues, which is something he and the city council will discuss Tuesday.
Two Memphis city council members say they have doubts about restoring city pension and health benefits to police officers and firefighters with a half-cent sales tax hike approved by city voters earlier this month.
The sales tax will fund pension and healthcare benefits for police and firefighters, but prekindergarten is also a beneficiary of the referendum. Just how much money is likely to go toward early education efforts in the city is unknown.
Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. says, according to one legal opinion, a referendum for county government to claim half the city revenue from the half-cent sales tax increase would be a vote among citizens in unincorporated Shelby County.
Fire and police union leaders are preparing to meet to work out details of implementing the half-cent sales tax increase approved by voters Thursday to restore health and pension benefits.
Memphis voters approved raising the sales tax rate to restore health care benefits and pensions for first responders.
The City Council chairman and the Memphis Fire Fighters Association president debated the proposed sales tax hike on "Behind The Headlines" in a discussion that featured lots of disagreement.
Former Memphis Police Director and Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham has endorsed the proposed half percent sales tax hike on the Oct. 3 Memphis ballot.
'Until we get serious about rebuilding our police and fire departments and fixing our retention problem, we will never be able to proactively attack the issue of crime.'
'A sales tax increase (would) return our pension and healthcare benefits to a plan that only five years ago found Memphis on the precipice of fiscal ruin.'
The "Pledge for Progress" is a promise on the priorities five council contenders would have if elected to the body, including a possible change to 13 single-member districts. Meanwhile, council Chairman Kemp Conrad and county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. are the first public opponents of the sales tax hike ballot question on the Oct. 3 ballot.
The storefront opening Saturday in the Poplar Corridor begins a campaign to the Oct. 3 election day. It also featured more of the clash of priorities among the major candidates for mayor on the same ballot.
Leaders of the “Memphis Campaign for Public Safety” said on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast they think the wording of the Oct. 3 ballot question is clear although Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has said if it is approved, it would still have to go to the City Council for approval.
The Shelby County Election Commission will vote Thursday afternoon on adding a sales tax increase referendum to the Oct. 3 Memphis ballot.
Almost half the signatures processed so far to put a city sales tax hike on the ballot this year have been judged invalid, according to the Shelby County Election Commission.
A petition drive for a city sales tax hike referendum to restore police and firefighter benefits cut four years ago has become more complex now that the petition signatures are being verified.
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