Van Turner says he lives in Binghampton, though MLGW bills show he doesn’t use any water
Memphis mayoral candidate Van Turner meets with constituents at LeMoyne-Owen College March 27, 2023. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Memphis mayoral candidate Van Turner has for months listed a Binghampton address on his campaign finance forms.
He says he lives there. But if he does, he hasn’t used water from the tap in a long time.
The issue comes amid a controversy over a residency requirement for the upcoming city mayoral election in October.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division bills show no water usage since the house’s MLGW bill was put in Turner’s name late last year. The utility bills also show sparing electric usage and erratic gas usage, according to copies obtained through a Tennessee Public Records Act request.
Turner said Friday, April 7, the home is an old house that needs work, and the house’s condition has kept his wife and children from staying at the address.
“I’m staying there some nights,” Turner said. “We don’t want to endanger anyone. And we’re going to take our time to fix it up. And I’m well within the law.”
Bills show little usage
Turner transferred the house’s utility bills into his name last November. Since then, the utility bills don’t reflect much activity at the house, according to six months worth of bills.
The amount of electric usage has been sparing. Turner has used 375 kilowatt hours of electricity over the past five months. MLGW estimates that the average residential customer uses 1,264 kilowatt hours per month.
The water meter reading at the home hasn’t changed since before Turner put the bills in his name.
“We’ve had leaks. So we’ve had to cut the water off. We’ve had to adjust the gas. And obviously, we’ve had to shut down operations to get the house fixed,” Turner said.
Turner told The Commercial Appeal Oct. 27, 2022, that he was living at the house. He said he had been living there since his term on the Shelby County Commission ended Sept. 1.
At the time, the utility bills were not yet in Turner’s name. He said he was in the process of switching over the utilities.
The house Friday, April 7, was dark, with the welcome mat rolled up.
Turner purchased home before residency issue
The former county commissioner and president of the Memphis NAACP Memphis Branch and his wife bought the Binghampton house from his cousin in August 2022. Two weeks later, Turner launched his mayoral campaign and listed the home as his address.
Turner lived previously in a Southeast Shelby County home that was part of his former county commission district. The house was less than a half-mile from the Memphis city limits.
Turner’s decision to buy a house within Memphis came ahead of his ongoing legal fight over the city’s residency requirement.
The Memphis City Charter contains a requirement that a mayor has to have lived in the city for five years before Election Day, which is Oct. 5.
Turner and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. have sued the Shelby County Election Commission over its plans to enforce the residency requirement. Neither has lived within Memphis for five years.
The ballot is also expected to include former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.
The combined lawsuit by Turner and Bonner is pending before Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins and is expected to be resolved ahead of candidates being allowed to pull qualifying petitions May 14.
For his part, Turner remains confident he will be on the ballot this year.
He said his time at his Binghampton house is spent fixing it up. He agreed to let a reporter tour the house in the future.
“We can do a walkthrough when it’s ready,” he said. “I have nothing to hide.”
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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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