House subcommittee spikes sales tax hike to fund Shelby County Jail
Over the past year, multiple news outlets have published investigations into deaths at the jail, the sanitary conditions and the way sheriff’s office personnel treats inmates. (Daily Memphian file)
A state House subcommittee has rejected a bill for this session that would have given Shelby County residents an opportunity to vote for a sales tax increase to fund a new jail.
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Tennessee Legislature Rep. John Gillespie Shelby County Jail sales tax increase Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr.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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