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 4091 articles by Bill Dries :
The County Commission Scorecard tracks the second in a series of votes on a county property tax rate. But the votes probably don’t close out the county’s budget season with four of the 13 commissioners absent.Related story:
On “Behind The Headlines,” county commissioners Van Turner and Mark Billingsley clashed over whether the commission should reopen its budget season later this month to consider a one-cent property tax hike.Related story:
The Invest in America Act passed Thursday, July 1, in the House on a 221-201 vote.
Meanwhile, Cohen was named co-chair Wednesday of the Helsinki Commission on European affairs that he has served on for the past decade. Cohen also linked the commission’s concerns about democracy in Europe to concerns in the U.S.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland kicked off the city’s $200 million slate of capital projects over the next three years Tuesday, June 29, in a southwest Memphis park.
Sorry, but it’s too soon to discuss reopening the I-40 bridge, a TDOT official says. Meanwhile, the delays in crossing I-55 cost the trucking industry about $900,000 a day, down from $2.4 million at the worst of the slowdown.
The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast recaps local political development including the county’s budget season and campaign openings for the 2022 county elections. Also, the partisan divide among area legislators remains in place on voting rights and the infrastructure bill.
Sarah Houston, executive director of the nonprofit “Protect Our Aquifer,” talked on “Behind the Headlines” about the end of a truce between the City Council, County Commission and the builders of the proposed Byhalia Connection oil pipeline.
During a Friday, June 25, visit to the city, the Tennessee governor also defended the state’s open gun carry law that takes effect July 1. Local leaders are worried the permitless gun carry provision could contribute to a summer surge in violent crime.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland also called on the state of Tennessee to use its federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to put more highway patrol officers on the city’s interstates permanently as well as cameras to combat shootings.
The state comptroller commented Tuesday during a visit to the county on the idea of reopening county government’s tax rate after the July 1 start of the fiscal year. But the county commissioner who vowed Monday to do just that next month says there is wiggle room in state law.
In a 50-50 party line procedural vote, Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee remained vocal critics of the bill that passed the majority Democratic House in March.
The proposed review of appointees to the ethics body comes as County Mayor Lee Harris is about to propose new ethics regulations.
Marcia E. Lewis is retiring as the CEO of the Memphis Housing Authority effective Aug. 28.
The absence of four county commissioners, including three of the “yes” votes for the $3.45 property tax rate set two weeks ago, was crucial to undoing the tax hike. However, the issue is likely not over.
The Hospitality Hub undertaking Downtown, on land donated by the city and funded by private donors along with the city and county governments, is next to the Hub’s intake area for the homeless.
The scorecard tracks the key votes that closed out the city’s budget season, including cutting off a proposed property tax hike before it got to the floor.
The tax rate vote will mark the end of county government’s budget season. The commission also votes on moving items from the current fiscal year into the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
Some of the changes proposed and outlined on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast address issues that came up in the allegations made against county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. in an independent investigation made public last month in The Daily Memphian.
Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner and Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald talked on “Behind The Headlines” about property tax hikes passed and up for a final vote, respectively, in the cities they lead and why the estimated share of federal ARPA funds in each of their cities took a tumble in the latest estimates.
The legal opinion will be about the chain of events at the June 7 session that led to the first approval of the $3.46 county tax rate.
Shelby County Schools officials say the Head Start contract with Porter-Leath is unprecedented in terms of its autonomy. A Porter-Leath representative says the relationship started to go bad two years ago.
A move for a 31-cent tax hike never got to a vote, with a council majority voting down a rule suspension to consider going up on the tax rate. That and other votes Tuesday, June 15, closed out the city’s budget season.
Before the council gets to final votes on operating and capital budgets, it will take up a call to raise property taxes by 29 cents to an even $3. The current city tax rate of $3.19 was lowered to $2.71 by the state to take into account the increase in property values with this year’s countywide property reappraisal.
Douglas Emhoff was just in the city last month to push the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan.