Shelby County Commission passes next year's budget: What got done and what didn't

Editors note: This article has been updated to clarify a dollar figure relating to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

Shelby County Board of Commissioners approved their $1.6 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2025 in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The almost 12-hour long meeting was tense, with the administration and Commissioners clashing at points over proposed cuts, but ultimately resulted in a balanced budget being passed.

The proposed operating budget from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris included pay raises for all Shelby County Government employees and minimum wage for county employees to be increased to $18 an hour. The budget proposal did not include a tax increase of any sort.

Employees will see their pay increase Jan. 1, different than what the mayor proposed. Commissioners did not increase the current property tax rate which will stay flat at $3.39.

While the mayor proposed a balanced budget, Commissioners amended the proposal heavily and unbalanced the proposed budget through multiple committee meetings. Prior to the start of the meeting, due to the various budget amendments, there was a budget deficit of over $50 million.

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Whittling down amendments

Commissioners Mickell Lowery and Michael Whaley proposed a budget amendment that would tackle eight of the 15 proposed amendments. The major toll on the budget was restoring the Shelby County Sheriff's Office back to its fully funded vacant positions.

Harris's administration repurposed funding to positions that had sat vacant for 18 months or longer to cover the cost of salary increases. The sheriff's office stood to lose dedicated funding for 441 vacant positions with Harris's proposal.

The amendment would give raises to all employees, fund the Shelby County Trustee's tax relief program, fund the Milton Community Enhancement Grants program and give money to the Shelby County Land Bank.

While it did fund all the previous vacant positions, SCSO Chief Administrative Officer Alicia Lindsey said the department still did not agree with the proposal, as it would take $29 million to make it whole.

Lindsey said that in order to completely fund the department, increases to the required contributions to retirement and temporary employee raises needed to be accounted for which would cost $29 million. Lowery and Whaley said there has been compromises around the county in various departments, but there had not been any moves from SCSO to adjust to a compromise.

Whaley, as well as other Commissioners and Michael Thompson, director of budget and fiscal planning, still heavily advocated for the vacant positions to not be funded.

While there were cuts, Lowery said in the future those programs could be funded after the trustee's excess funds are accounted for in August. Lowery also offered for SCSO to come back later in the year for more funding, but Lindsey said it would not be possible because the money would be needed day one.

Commissioner Charlie Caswell proposed to keep the raise for all county employees but leave out a pay increase for SCSO employees but it did not have the support.

Attempt to cut mayor's budget

Commissioner Erika Sugarmon proposed a $500,000 cut to the mayor's budget, specifically targeting the Office of Innovation. Sugarmon justified the cut but incorrectly stated that the only outcome the office has produced is a children's book.

The Mayor's Office of Innovation has developed a free gym class program called ShelbyCares, hosts the annual Senior Prom for residents over 60 years old, in addition to other programs sustained by the office.

Sugarmon also said that if the mayor's current budget was approved, the full amount of $270 million would have to be sustained year over year because of a state law that passed.

Commissioner Britney Thornton questioned the administration about the sharp increase in the proposed budget from the previous years. Michael Thompson, director of budget and fiscal planning, said the budget is comprised of six different departments and listed the various increases throughout said departments.

Within the mayor's budget, the Division of Community Services, Information Technology, Administration and Finance, Public Works, Planning and Development and Health Services were included. Thompson and Collins reiterated numerous times that cutting the administration's budget will impact more than just one targeted department.

Sugarmon said that if the administration is asking for other departments to cut budgets they should also look into its own budget. She repeatedly reiterated that the Mayor's Office of Innovation should be cut from the budget completely.

The budget cut ultimately failed.

Funding cuts to some judicial positions, county clerk's office location

Commissioner Mick Wright removed funding to the Poplar Plaza location of the Shelby County Clerk's Office. The East Memphis location closed in November due to unpaid rent and the expiration of its lease. The savings from cutting the funding to the ghost location totaled $249,000.

Another amendment Wright introduced would have removed the funding to the Bail Hearing Court Room but would not remove the standing bail order. The amendment failed with 7 no votes.

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Multiple judicial commissioners came to the meeting to speak against the cut. Judicial Commissioner Kenya Smith said that the livelihood of multiple judicial commissioners as well as other key staff members would be jeopardized.

The Bail Hearing Courtroom was developed after threats of a lawsuit from various organizations like Just City and the Tennessee ACLU. The goal of the hearing room was to take into account an individual's income to allow low-income people accused of a crime to avoid pretrial detention.

The two other amendments related to two judgeships that were removed by the Tennessee General Assembly were heard with only one passing. The budget cut to the Criminal Court Division 9 would also remove funding for the Shelby County District Attorney's Office and the Law Office of the Shelby County Public Defender, which have county employees who work in the courtroom.

District Attorney Steve Mulroy spoke to Commissioners, saying the cut would be harmful as the caseload would not be reduced but the staff would be.

"If we do this then the caseload per prosecutor will increase," Mulroy said.

The amendment to cut the funding for Criminal Court Division 9 failed, but cutting the funding for the Circuit Court Clerk Division 7 passed.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at (901) 484-6225, [email protected] and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Commission passes fiscal year 2025 operating budget