(Memphis) Shelby county is running on a temporary budget, and a battle over how much property taxes should go up means it could be a while before there’s a permanent budget.
Commissioner Terry Roland believes some commissioners are trying to rush the budget process to pass the tax rate without much discussion.
“As long as we get it done by like October. There is no state law that says we have too,” said Roland.
Commissioner Steve Mulroy says just because there’s no hard deadline and the county can run on the temporary budget for a while, they still shouldn’t put it off.
“It would be prudent to get it resolved in the next couple of meetings,” said Mulroy.
Commissioner Henri Brooks wants to raise the tax and move on to other issues.
“My hope is that we will do it and just get it over with and not have a lot of confrontational discussion,” said Brooks.
Chairman Mike Ritz says they’re forced to raise property taxes 36 cents per dollar of a property’s value because home values took such a hit in Shelby County.
That with the added cost of funding unified schools and Juvenile Court upgrades.
“If we fail to get six votes today, we would have to get something together very quickly in what would be called meetings,” said Ritz.
Ritz says it’s OK the complete budget hasn’t been approved so far, even though the fiscal year started last week.
“Really needs to be done by August 1st because the trustee needs to get the tax bills out,” said Ritz.
Commissioners are set to vote on the tax rate during its third and final reading Monday.
