Shelby County Commission at make or break in county budget season
Here are the budgets, budget amendments and the dollar figures including proposed financing for the Regional One campus rebuild and the construction of two new high schools.
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Here are the budgets, budget amendments and the dollar figures including proposed financing for the Regional One campus rebuild and the construction of two new high schools.
While the end of the county budget season was the centerpiece of the nearly 12-hour Monday, June 17, commission meeting, here are the nonbudget actions the commission took on a long agenda.
At a meeting that stretched past 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the Shelby County Commission closed out its budget season with no property-tax hike and a 6% pay raise for county employees.
The County Commission delayed final votes Monday on every part of the budget process including setting the tax rate. Several commissioners are saying the three big capital projects in the budget might have to be prioritized. Commission votes down call for mediation in juvenile detention center disputeRelated story:
Commissioner Mick Wright said the sheriff and Juvenile Court judge need to talk about who will run the juvenile detention center. But his nonbinding resolution suggesting arbitration got voted down Monday.
The Shelby County Commission is unlikely to wrap up its budget season Monday, June 3, despite having an agenda with final votes scheduled on the budget and the property tax rate.
Most of the amendments to the budget approved in committees would be funded out of the county’s general fund and throw Mayor Lee Harris’ proposal out of balance if the full commission approves them.
At least 340 electronic cell doors currently have to be operated manually, giving inmates the opportunity to potentially reach out and assault the staff. County Commission wrestles with property-tax rate as July 1 deadline loomsRelated story:
The ordinance that sets the county property tax rate still has a blank where the rate goes. But commissioners approved Tuesday where the pennies on the tax rate go based on keeping the $3.39 rate the same.
The County Commission has several Shelby County Sheriff’s Office items to vote on Monday, from emergency money for new jail door locks to calling for collaboration on what happens next at the juvenile detention center on Old Getwell Road.
“We consider it to be defunding police,” a Shelby County Sheriff’s Office official said of a proposed budget that cuts 441 vacant positions from the Sheriff’s office, a $31.4 million impact.
Wanda Halbert says she’s working on a plan, but she said her reports may still be late or inaccurate, the software auditors recommended doesn’t work for her office and the county is not funding her enough.
The final vote on the joint city-county ordinance came a day after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners approved the same compromise.
Two resolutions to fund the clerk’s office, including a pay raise, were withdrawn from the County Commission’s agenda Monday, May 6, without comment.
The vote came with some important changes to accomodate large solar arrays within the city that MLGW pushed for. The Memphis City Council votes on the measure Tuesday, May 7.
County administration has yet to review the raises, which are one of several resolutions on the Monday, May 6, agenda.
Funding requests came before Shelby County commissioners Wednesday, May 1, in committee sessions. They appear to be a move toward a corrective-action plan, but the pay raises are likely to face more questions.
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.
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.
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.
County commissioners approved $18.6 million in funding to plan and build the diversion center. The jail study was an easier call at $250,000. The separate votes on the two projects came with very different timelines and expectations.
The study would cost $250,000, and the new center $18.6 million. County Mayor Lee Harris meanwhile has said the diversion center is a more immediate priority that could help with conditions in the current jail.
The Shelby County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Monday that would cap the amount of hotel-motel tax funding Memphis Tourism receives, according to a resolution handed out to the media Monday, March 18.
The County Commission took three votes on the county Land Bank Monday, which touched on larger issues that showed lingering differences across two other unrelated items.