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This is budget season, and I have been working with the team to ensure that we are aligning our investments with the priorities I laid out at the State of the City: stronger neighborhoods, meaningful pathways for our youth, and promoting culture as an economic driver. At the end of the day, what we will propose next week is a budget that is fiscally responsible and people-centric. It supports actions, programs, and services designed to create thriving neighborhoods and residents, and together with everyone at the City of Memphis, we are ready to do more for each of you.
If I am being honest, this was not an easy budget year. We started with revenue growth of only 1% while facing tens of millions in increased costs from healthcare, pensions, and inflationary pressures. Before arriving at a balanced budget, without raising taxes, we spent weeks combing through the numbers, looking for ways to cut dollars without cutting services. Our goal is to work smarter and deliver more for Memphis. And our focus always starts with thriving neighborhoods, because that is the foundation everything else is built on.
We committed to strengthening the fundamentals that shape daily life. Our proposed budget supports that work with more than $50 million in neighborhood services and infrastructure, including street paving and pothole repair and more than $18 million to tackle blight and illegal dumping. We are increasing our investment in paving and making critical upgrades to our asphalt plant so we can do more work, more efficiently, across Memphis. We are also beginning a multi-year commitment to safer streets, matching federal dollars to bring real improvements directly into neighborhoods across Memphis.
We are also investing in welcoming spaces that bring people together, with more than $40 million supporting community centers, parks, and libraries across Memphis. We are continuing to move forward on the transformational Southwest Twin site with a $14M investment, turning long-vacant land into a community-centered development that creates new opportunity. And we are upgrading existing community facilities and building new ones in neighborhoods across the city, while continuing to expand trails and greenways that connect communities and create more ways for people to move and gather.
Our focus always starts with thriving neighborhoods, because that is the foundation everything else is built on.
Our public safety efforts remain a part of our thriving neighborhoods promise. To sustain the gains we have made, this budget invests nearly $500 million in personnel across police and fire services. It continues our investment in the technology and systems that support faster, smarter responses. We are also making critical investments in the equipment our teams need to respond in every condition, including new snow plow attachments so we are better prepared when the unexpected happens. We’ve all read the headlines that serious crime is down more than 40% over the past two years, with the lowest three-month period on record happening during the first three months of this year. And while those numbers represent lives protected and communities beginning to feel a real difference, we aren’t celebrating yet. We know we still have more work to do.
And part of that work is providing opportunities for more of our young people, and those who find themselves out of school and out of work. This budget supports that goal with $5.6 million in workforce and leadership pathways, including 3,000 paid work experiences through our MPLOY summer work program. We are investing another $2.5M for youth recreation programs and safe spaces, including the Cloud901 teen-only space that provides hands-on experience in technology and media skills.
We’ve also committed to making housing a central part of Memphis’ growth strategy. We understand that in order to invite more people to call Memphis home, we have to incentivize more housing, and more housing types, being built in our core city. This budget supports that work through targeted investments in homeownership and middle-income development, helping more families build stability closer to schools, jobs, and healthcare. It also includes a $3M housing trust fund and over $10M in federal grant money that will support housing, community development programs, and efforts to support our unhoused residents.
And we aren’t forgetting to treat our culture as a key driver of economic growth. This budget supports that work with more than $825K dedicated to strengthening our creative economy and supporting the artists and organizations that power Memphis.
I am proud of what we are investing in. And I’m proud of the team for helping to identify more than $50 million in operational efficiencies, as they stay focused on delivering real results for our residents. Our proposed FY27 budget reflects the commitments we’ve made and the progress we are sustaining.
Memphis is rising. And we are going to keep building together.
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