MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis City Council is set to vote on whether to de-annex about 200 properties in the Eads area in order to focus services more in the city core where there’s a higher density of people.
Final approval was delayed Tuesday, but Council has indicated the ordinance will pass.
Debbie Williams supports the move. She moved to Eads from Collierville a couple of years ago.
“It’s quiet. It’s rural,” she said.
But she said being in a rural area that’s technically within Memphis city limits also had its drawbacks.
“I don’t think our trash pickup is the best,” she said. “We have Friday pickup and they weren’t picking up on Friday. Sometimes trash is still out there a week later.”
Her neighbor Nancy Wimmer agreed.
She said when the city annexed Eads, it never delivered on its promises.
“We haven’t gotten the sewers and they’ve been annexed now for 12 years. We also don’t have the fire station that was supposed to be put on Houston Levee,” Wimmer said.
That’s why she said she and everyone else she knows supports de-annexation in the Eads area.
But they recently found out that even after the move goes through, they’ll still have to pay city taxes for several more years.
“This is like the old Boston tea party: taxation without representation. We won’t be able to vote for the mayor or anything,” Wimmer said. “We’re confused. What do you want us to do besides still pay city taxes and not get our services?”
She said she heard they’d have to help pay in to the pension funds for police and fire.
A spokesperson for City Hall said she couldn’t answer specific questions about the potential taxes or the length until the ordinance passes.
Council is also considering de-annexing the Riverbottoms area in Southeast Memphis.
The third and final reading was supposed to be at Council Tuesday, but the vote was delayed for another two weeks.