Memphis City Council discusses resolution to raise property tax
by: Shay Arthur
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A resolution to raise property taxes in Memphis was part of a discussion in Tuesday’s city council committee meeting.
Memphis City Council member Martavius Jones calls it a precautionary tale, proposing raising the property tax rate by 29 cents to make sure there isn’t a potential revenue shortfall.
“This 29 cents of that would fund MATA operations, the affordable operations trust fund, to shore up what would be our solid waste and clean up our city, the creation of an opportunity youth fund but then also an amount that’s just assessed for the general fund,” Jones said.
A large portion would go to MATA to make sure cuts don’t have to happen.
“This is just operationally to keep them at par where they are right now. What has been placed in the public domain is that without this amount of funding they would have to cut services,” Jones said.
Jones said their services right now are bare bones. But council member Cheyenne Johnson said she’s heard from constituents against the increase, saying she has questions about the amount of money going to MATA.
“I think if we’re going to do an increase we need to have services that they actually see. Not these soft services that’s behind the scenes. We gotta come up with how we’re gonna actually use the money and they understand why this increase came about,’ Johnson said.
No official decisions were made Tuesday. The council is expected to discuss again in two weeks on June 27.
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