City Council weighs budget amendments, possible property-tax hike
The council has a series of budget amendments and what could be several property-tax hike proposals between it and the end of the city’s budget season.
Bill Dries
Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
There are 4420 articles by Bill Dries :
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June 2023
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City of Memphis -
Shelby County Reinflated county wheel tax hike proposal faces new road test
The Shelby County Commission meets Monday, June 26, with a new version of the wheel tax hike that failed earlier this month on the agenda.
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State Government D.C. Scorecard: The Schiff censure, the Durham probe, TVA
This D.C. Scorecard includes the censure of the Democrat who made the House’s case for former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and a grilling of the special counsel who investigated the FBI’s handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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Education Shelby County funding new high school in Frayser
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris will include a $10 million ask to restart work on a new Memphis-Shelby County Schools high school in Frayser when he presents his fiscal year 2024 budget proposal to county commissioners on Wednesday, April 26.
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North Memphis After renovation, sunlight streams into Gaston Community Center again
The windows surrounding three sides of the city’s first and oldest community center were boarded up nearly 50 years ago. The $4 million renovation formally opened Wednesday, June 21, bringing natural light back to the gym, while adding other uses to the center.
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City of Memphis Memphis City Council Scorecard: How a redistricting plan died
The Daily Memphian’s City Council Scorecard looks at how a significant change in council district lines ahead of the October city elections came to an abrupt halt earlier this month.
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City of Memphis Bonner and Gibson file qualifying petitions for October election
Mayoral contender Frank Colvett has pulled his petition, making him the last of the declared contenders to take the first step toward getting on the ballot.
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Elections Pearson easily wins state House District 86 Democratic primary
In the low-turnout contest, Justin J. Pearson got better than 94% of the vote across 19 precincts, compared to 5% for challenger David Page.
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Shelby County Juvenile Court wants almost $5M for ‘rapid engagement’ strategy
The new county funding would be for 40 new counselors with the goal of preventing a “cross over” of children coming to the court for child welfare issues and then moving to delinquent behavior.
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Shelby County Wheel-tax hike is back on County Commission agenda
Shelby County commissioners are still considering a hike in the wheel tax or the property tax to complete their budget season.
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Shelby County Shelby County Clerk’s office will stay in Poplar Plaza
Janet Hooks, the county commission’s special adviser to Clerk Wanda Halbert, also says the commission should restore $1 million in funding to Halbert’s office that it cut earlier so she can fill positions with new employees instead of moving existing employees around.
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Memphis election 2023: How to keep up with who’s in the race
Here are a few ways to track who is running for which office during this busy campaign season.
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City of Memphis Memphis City Council rejects plan to create Cordova-centric district
The plan voted down would have created a Cordova-centric council district. The defeat leaves in place a set of minimal changes ahead of the October Memphis ballot where nine of the 13 council members are seeking re-election.
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City of Memphis Tax hike, competing redistricting plans top busy City Council day
The council also takes a final vote on “party bus” regulations and gets a look at a long-term lease of the new Leftwich Tennis Center with the University of Memphis.
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Shelby County Rare Sunday meeting leads to county wheel-tax hike options
Four county commissioners — two from each political party — met Sunday, June 11, with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris for four hours. They came up with a compromise that has a wheel-tax hike back in play after it was rejected by the commission earlier this month. But property tax hikes are also in play.
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Metro D.C. Scorecard: Trump’s indictment, Cohen on Amtrak; Kustoff at Le Bonheur
The D.C. Scorecard shows partisan lines still intact among the city’s four representatives on the espionage indictment against Donald Trump. Also, Cohen talks Memphis to Nashville Amtrak service, while Kustoff talks workforce at Le Bonheur.
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Elections Political Roundup: Early voting, Chism picnic and ‘Dad’s dream’
Former Shelby County Commissioner Sidney Chism’s annual summer political picnic returned June 10. It was also the last day of early voting for the special primary elections in state House District 86. And Martin Luther King III came through Memphis last week in a summer bus tour across the country.
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Premium
City of MemphisLong-awaited Riverdale clerk’s office quietly doing business
The long-awaited and discussed office of the Shelby County Clerk at 3785 Riverdale Road opened this week after many delays.
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Arts & Culture ‘Young Rock’ cut short: NBC cancels Memphis-based TV show
After three seasons — the last filmed entirely in Memphis — Dwayne Johnson’s NBC sitcom “Young Rock” ends.
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Premium
City of MemphisConservancy could save Mid-South Coliseum
The conservancy is the latest in efforts to return the Coliseum to use after it was mothballed by the city 16 years ago. It is the first proposal since Mayor Jim Strickland called for the Coliseum’s demolition to make way for a new $52 million, 10,000-seat soccer stadium.
Related story:
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Elections Bonner makes first mayoral forum appearance as crime, change dominate discussion
The forum at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church drew nine candidates and a crowd of more than 100 Thursday, June 8.
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Shelby County Criminal Court backlog measures OK’d, two-year reappraisals stayed
Here’s a roundup of some other items on Monday’s Shelby County Commission agenda, which was overshadowed by budget deliberations and votes on the wheel-tax hike.
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Shelby County Harris: Property-tax hike may be next for Regional One rebuild
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about the defeat of his wheel-tax proposal on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast and has harsh words for Shelby County Commissioners.
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Shelby County Shelby County Commission votes down wheel-tax hike twice in one night
The proposed wheel-tax hike, to fund the rebuilding of Regional One Health’s campus and new Frayser and Cordova high schools, fell two votes short of the nine votes needed. It was then one vote short in a late attempt to keep the funding option alive.
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State Government Lee says state needs to move faster on highway projects
Lee and a group of around 30 elected officials, TDOT employees and construction workers stood near the Crump Boulevard overpass, which is where a new roundabout is being built. The project has been talked about in some shape or another for more than 20 years.
Related story:
Gov. Lee talks drag law court ruling, Sen. Hagerty talks debt ceiling vote
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