As city faces tight budget, consulting contracts add up
The City of Memphis awarded the recently retired police deputy chief a $120,000 contract to improve MPD’s efficiency. (George Walker IV/AP file)
Throughout the last three months, the City of Memphis inked more than $500,000 worth of consulting contracts for leadership development, technology, improving the police department’s efficiency and building better relationships with the faith community.
The awards came as Memphis was grappling with a tight budget caused, in part, by not receiving increased vehicle registration fees until six-plus months after the hiked fees were originally passed. The Daily Memphian examined city consulting contracts executed in 2025 and worth more than $100,000.
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Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
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