TAXPAYER REBUTTAL: No City Property Tax Increase
Local & National News | May 20, 2024
Local & National News | May 20, 2024
Written by Llloyd Brown and Joe B. Kent
Public fees and taxes require periodic adjustment. Given local sanitation demands, the openly discussed Memphis solid waste fee needs an upward adjustment. While increased fees are not pleasant, the City of Memphis proposed solid waste fee of less than $40 and increase from $29.96 to $36.85 is recommended. $36.85 is within an acceptable solid waste fee range when compared with other municipalities.
Other tax and fee increases, borne by the public but not discussed, do appear in the proposed budget. It’s not clear if these increases are from increased demand or actual rate increases. Increase examples include franchise telephone tax of $400K, cable TV fees of $1.1M, fiber optic fees of $1.2M, parking $550K and ambulance service of $6.4M.
As far as the heavily discussed property tax increase, concerning is a proposed 75 cent / 28% property rate tax increase on top of an already high tax rate. To that extent, while leveraging public funds on interlocal balance sheets, the below budget recommendations, rebuts increasing an already high City of Memphis $2.70 property tax rate to $3.45. The former rate supplements the Shelby County property tax of $3.39 for a total proposed property tax rate in Memphis of $6.84.
Also, unknown is information regarding a $50M request from the State by the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce for crime remediation. Knowing about this appropriation would potentially provide a new revenue source for the FY25 budget for additional public programming.
Below are recommendations reference and work from The City of Memphis Proposed FY25 budget, which can be found in “Check the Facts”.
$20,000,000 – Page 1 of FY 25 City of Memphis proposed budget. Account for $20M in revenue owed to the City of Memphis by MATA in Intergovernmental Revenues (JustMyMemphis).
$5,000,000 – Page 1 Intergovernmental Revenues. Account for $5M in one time revenue from Memphis Health Education and Housing Facilities Board to the City budget for FY25 Affordable Housing Fund (Memphis Health).
$7,500,000 – Transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget funded with $100M in debt retirement from $100M in excess MLGW cash transferred to the City budget. MLGW has too much cash creating a moral hazard (Taxpayer Justice)
$10,000,000 – MLGW should contract its paving work to the City of Memphis, which has an asphalt plant.
$8,000,000 – Page 15, MLGW under projected at $50.5M. The State of Tennessee appraisal ratio is unchanged in FY25. The ratio has been used to justify the revenue decrease in budget hearings. Adjust MLGW In-Lieu in FY25 to FY24 revenue of $58,500,000 (TNSBOE).
Total Revenue Raised: $50,500,000 to $832,891,133 in total revenue.
$20,000,000 reduction from FY24 Forecast – Page 6. Inflated “Materials and Supplies.” An actual FY24 disbursed amount for “Materials and Supplies” should soon be put on the record as of 5/17/24 close of business in City Council Budget Hearings to validate this recommendation.
$20,000,000 – Page 9. Eliminate $20M from “Major Repairs and Carpentry” as the increase from $3K in 2024 to $20M is either unsupported based on history or a mistake in the budget.
$17,000,000 – Page 7. Eliminate “Potential Raises.”
$671,000 – Page 247. Eliminate Brooks. Let philanthropists be philanthropists. Quit subsidizing so-called philanthropy.
$3,000,000 – Page 185. End partnership with Memphis River Parks Partnership. MRPP is in debt and not a professional maintenance organization. MRPP should focus on paying off their private debt. Taxpayers should not subsidize MRPP paying off their private debt (JustMyMemphis).
$450,000 -Page 248. Reduce funding for Botanic Gardens by $450K to $140K. The $140K is for educational services that Botanic Gardens provides. Botanic Gardens has a business model and sufficient funding to fund itself. Let philanthropists be philanthropists.
Total Expense Reduction of $61,121,000 from $886,681,539 to $825,560,539
$833M - $826M leaves $7M for new programming and eliminates the need for a property tax increase.
Lloyd Brown - MBA and CVA and former Professor of Finance, Taxpayer Justice Institute Board member.
Joe B. Kent - BBA and MS in Curriculum. Founder of the Taxpayer Justice Institute.
City of Memphis. FY25 Proposed Budget - https://www.memphistn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/FY25-Final-Proposed-Budget-Book.pdf
JustMyMemphis. MATA-Why All the Chamber Love and What Happened? - https://www.justmymemphis.com/view-post/2303
JustMyMemphis – Riverfront: Taxpayers did not Sign Up for This - https://www.justmymemphis.com/view-post/2211
Memphis Health Education Housing Facilities Board. March 31, 2024 Financials - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5457ddb6e4b04e0fcd8c9a0a/t/663baa6d38a91e1b9df2ee71/1715186287383/March+2024+Internal+Management+Report.pdf
Taxpayer Justice. MLGW Dashboard – Cash - https://taxpayerjustice.net/mlgw-cash/
TN State Board of Equalization. Appraisal Ratios - https://comptroller.tn.gov/boards/state-board-of-equalization/sboe-resources/appraisal-ratios.html
Written by Llloyd Brown and Joe B. Kent
Public fees and taxes require periodic adjustment. Given local sanitation demands, the openly discussed Memphis solid waste fee needs an upward adjustment. While increased fees are not pleasant, the City of Memphis proposed solid waste fee of less than $40 and increase from $29.96 to $36.85 is recommended. $36.85 is within an acceptable solid waste fee range when compared with other municipalities.
Other tax and fee increases, borne by the public but not discussed, do appear in the proposed budget. It’s not clear if these increases are from increased demand or actual rate increases. Increase examples include franchise telephone tax of $400K, cable TV fees of $1.1M, fiber optic fees of $1.2M, parking $550K and ambulance service of $6.4M.
As far as the heavily discussed property tax increase, concerning is a proposed 75 cent / 28% property rate tax increase on top of an already high tax rate. To that extent, while leveraging public funds on interlocal balance sheets, the below budget recommendations, rebuts increasing an already high City of Memphis $2.70 property tax rate to $3.45. The former rate supplements the Shelby County property tax of $3.39 for a total proposed property tax rate in Memphis of $6.84.
Also, unknown is information regarding a $50M request from the State by the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce for crime remediation. Knowing about this appropriation would potentially provide a new revenue source for the FY25 budget for additional public programming.
Below are recommendations reference and work from The City of Memphis Proposed FY25 budget, which can be found in “Check the Facts”.
$20,000,000 – Page 1 of FY 25 City of Memphis proposed budget. Account for $20M in revenue owed to the City of Memphis by MATA in Intergovernmental Revenues (JustMyMemphis).
$5,000,000 – Page 1 Intergovernmental Revenues. Account for $5M in one time revenue from Memphis Health Education and Housing Facilities Board to the City budget for FY25 Affordable Housing Fund (Memphis Health).
$7,500,000 – Transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget funded with $100M in debt retirement from $100M in excess MLGW cash transferred to the City budget. MLGW has too much cash creating a moral hazard (Taxpayer Justice)
$10,000,000 – MLGW should contract its paving work to the City of Memphis, which has an asphalt plant.
$8,000,000 – Page 15, MLGW under projected at $50.5M. The State of Tennessee appraisal ratio is unchanged in FY25. The ratio has been used to justify the revenue decrease in budget hearings. Adjust MLGW In-Lieu in FY25 to FY24 revenue of $58,500,000 (TNSBOE).
Total Revenue Raised: $50,500,000 to $832,891,133 in total revenue.
$20,000,000 reduction from FY24 Forecast – Page 6. Inflated “Materials and Supplies.” An actual FY24 disbursed amount for “Materials and Supplies” should soon be put on the record as of 5/17/24 close of business in City Council Budget Hearings to validate this recommendation.
$20,000,000 – Page 9. Eliminate $20M from “Major Repairs and Carpentry” as the increase from $3K in 2024 to $20M is either unsupported based on history or a mistake in the budget.
$17,000,000 – Page 7. Eliminate “Potential Raises.”
$671,000 – Page 247. Eliminate Brooks. Let philanthropists be philanthropists. Quit subsidizing so-called philanthropy.
$3,000,000 – Page 185. End partnership with Memphis River Parks Partnership. MRPP is in debt and not a professional maintenance organization. MRPP should focus on paying off their private debt. Taxpayers should not subsidize MRPP paying off their private debt (JustMyMemphis).
$450,000 -Page 248. Reduce funding for Botanic Gardens by $450K to $140K. The $140K is for educational services that Botanic Gardens provides. Botanic Gardens has a business model and sufficient funding to fund itself. Let philanthropists be philanthropists.
Total Expense Reduction of $61,121,000 from $886,681,539 to $825,560,539
$833M - $826M leaves $7M for new programming and eliminates the need for a property tax increase.
Lloyd Brown - MBA and CVA and former Professor of Finance, Taxpayer Justice Institute Board member.
Joe B. Kent - BBA and MS in Curriculum. Founder of the Taxpayer Justice Institute.
City of Memphis. FY25 Proposed Budget - https://www.memphistn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/FY25-Final-Proposed-Budget-Book.pdf
JustMyMemphis. MATA-Why All the Chamber Love and What Happened? - https://www.justmymemphis.com/view-post/2303
JustMyMemphis – Riverfront: Taxpayers did not Sign Up for This - https://www.justmymemphis.com/view-post/2211
Memphis Health Education Housing Facilities Board. March 31, 2024 Financials - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5457ddb6e4b04e0fcd8c9a0a/t/663baa6d38a91e1b9df2ee71/1715186287383/March+2024+Internal+Management+Report.pdf
Taxpayer Justice. MLGW Dashboard – Cash - https://taxpayerjustice.net/mlgw-cash/
TN State Board of Equalization. Appraisal Ratios - https://comptroller.tn.gov/boards/state-board-of-equalization/sboe-resources/appraisal-ratios.html
