Building Together: City of Memphis Weekly Newsletter

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We gave our FY25 Budget presentation this week. And in our presentation, I outlined our current situation - in short, we aren’t living in what most of us would consider our ideal Memphis. Our crime numbers are too high, the blight and disinvestment is too rampant. Our neighbors and neighborhoods demand more - we all want a better Memphis. 

And we need it to happen now. 

I shared our budget timeline - and our process of working through the numbers. (page 22)

And I also explained the factors that had helped our city avoid a tax increase over the past 5 years. In FY21, the city received $100M in Cares Act dollars, in FY22-24, we had an additional $161M in ARPA funds. Without this revenue, it is likely that we would have required a tax increase earlier. 

Click any of the images to take you to the full presentation

I shared the other drivers for our current deficit, including natural inflation and lower state appraisals (page 25). We haven’t had a tax increase since 2012 and the prices of goods and services have naturally gone up during that time, but our revenue hasn’t kept pace. (page 28) This is how our starting budget, with no additions, and taking every cut we could find without sacrificing service, was still $53M in the red. 

I explained that 72% (or $602M) of our FY25 operating budget is dedicated to people costs, the employees whose dedication makes the city run. In FY25, we have budgeted for 71% of that total personnel number to be spent on the women and men in our police and fire departments.

And, while we are proud of our dedicated staff, I also shared that the City of Memphis employees are the lowest paid of any local municipalitly. To be able to recruit and retain, we simply need more. 

I described the target - or the goals for our budget. The first goal being to put $5M a year into our reserves. This goal benefits our community by keep our bond rating high and allowing us to to pay less for our debt. In order to retain our AA bond rating (essentially this means, we have really good credit as a city) we need to keep at least 10% of our total operating budget (approx $80M) in reserves. However, the State Comptroller has an ever higher standard, the comptroller would like us to keep two months operating expenses in reserves (approx $120M). In order to hit that target we need to put away $5M for the next four years, while not pulling anything from that reserve fund. 

We also have a big goal of reducing violent crime by 10% this year and every year following. We believe this is crucial for the health of our city and we are structuring all of our budget priorities to accomplish this goal. 

Combined, our ultimate goal is creating a safer, stronger, cleaner, and more investable city. 

So, understanding the situation, and knowing what our targets are, I explained that we have two options - cut programs, services, and people, or raise taxes. Because, as much as none of us want a tax increase, more revenue equals more opportunity to create the Memphis we all want to see - the Memphis we want to live in. 

That means investment in the crime-technology that will help our first responders to do their jobs better and faster, and funding for an office of neighborhood safety; it means investment in cleaner streets and less trash and blight; it means more money for schools, youth programs and wrap-around services; it means an investment in improving public transit; and it would mean we would be able to give the employees of Memphis a 3% raise. 

That scenario shows a budget with a $99M deficit using our current revenue (page 50). However, with a $0.75 tax increase, we could have a balanced budget, add all of those city-changing programs and initiatives, plus give our employees a 3% raise and still add $5.9M to the reserves (page 62). 

I know it is a big ask. I feel it. And I want the people to understand it, so I detailed what an increase will mean for the average home owner in Memphis (page 57). 

If you live in a $200K house, you currently pay approximately $1351 in city property taxes, and with a $0.75 increase you will pay approximately $1726 or $375 more per year. That is around $31 more per month. 

I am a home-owner and I don’t want to pay more taxes, either. But I do want more for my city. And if we get this increase, I promise we will return value. We will deliver cleaner streets and less trash and litter; we will give our police officers more tools and our students more support. 

I would love it if you would look through the entire presentation (link here), and if you have questions, please ask (send to: mayor@memphistn.gov). I will try to answer as many as I can in my newsletter next week. 

Until then, I thank you for reading, and for asking questions, and for demanding more for our city. Together, I know we can create a better, stronger, safer, more investable Memphis. 

Public Safety Dashboard.

We will be launching our new Public Safety Dashboard soon! The dashboard will provide detailed data related to types of crime occurring, detail when and where they occur, and give trends. The dashboard will update daily, and will include several metrics, a map, and various ways to filter the data. This dashboard is designed to provide insights to both the residents of Memphis and our City Leaders as we track what matters and activate our pandemic-level response to public safety. 

When we launch, we will provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to use this new tool and allow users to submit feedback as well. We look forward to building upon this tool by incorporating data from across the criminal justice system.

sample data below - this is a draft of the data. 

Clean, Green, and Better Togehter:

Our Strike Team worked in the following zip codes this week: 38104, 38106, 38107, 38109, 38111, 38116, 38117, 38118, 38119, 38122, 38127, 38133, 38134, and 38016!!! 

Clean Up, Drive Through, Drop Off: Memphis-area Recycling Roundup!

Social Shout-outs and Community Events:

Our OBDC department is hosting A Day of Opportunity. The purpose of ADOO is to give minority, women-owned, and small businesses the opportunity to ENGAGE, CONNECT, and LEARN about City procurement opportunity as well as other quasi-governmental agencies. To register, vist: https://tinyurl.com/2h69k7rt  or click the image below. 

Congratulations to the 13 participants graduating from Opportunity R3 today which brings our graduation total for 2024 (under Mayor Young’s administration) to 40 graduates from the program. Thank you to our hard working staff, communtiy and employment partners for giving our next generation a hope and a future. #onememphis City of Memphis City of Memphis - Office of Community Affairs

Historic Melrose!

More than 40 years ago, the Historic Melrose High School in Orange Mound shut its doors. After sitting boarded up and empty for decades, it is reopening as the Orange Mound Library & Genealogy Center. (Eventually, the upper floors will also be senior apartments. )

Weekly round-up

Reaching New Heights: The Heights neighborhood was abuzz with excitement at the inaugural Ribbon Tying Ceremony for The Heights Line!

in partnership and progress,

Paul A. Young