Harris proposes property tax of $3.399; budget includes tax relief, school and MATA funding

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris is proposing a property tax rate set at $3.399 per $100 of assessed value, based on the state’s recertified recaptured tax rate.

However, that rate will have to change to accommodate the Shelby County Trustee’s outdated system, according to Trustee Regina Morrison Newman, which can only accommodate a tax rate that goes out to two decimal places.

The proposed budget includes increased funding for property tax relief, transit and education, Harris announced in a presentation to the Shelby County Commission Wednesday. The budget process is still early and numerous changes could be made to the budget.

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Harris’ administration is not making the decision of whether to increase or decrease the tax rate from that $3.399 figure, instead recommending that the commission stick with the state’s figure — even though Newman says it is impossible to enact.

“I’m the first mayor to not propose a tax increase, Democrat or Republican, for nearly 20 years,” Harris said. “First mayor in decades to not preside over a property tax increase, that’s a property tax increase from wherever either commission led or from the mayor’s office. So we’re pretty pleased with that.”

That leaves the commission with the decision of whether to enact a tax decrease, losing the county about $2 million in revenue, or a small tax increase, which would result in the county receiving an increase in several hundred thousand dollars in revenue.

“It’ll be up to us to either chop that nine off or go one up,” said County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr.

Harris said there is $2 million in contingency funds baked into his budget to accommodate whatever decision the commission makes.

Regardless of what the county does, if it ends up choosing a tax rate near the state’s recertified tax rate, the rate will be lower than the current tax rate, set at $3.45 per $100 of assessed value. Tax revenue for fiscal year 2023 is expected to increase by about $9 million primarily due to assessed value and growth in the county.

Harris’ proposed $1.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year includes a pay raise of one percent for county employees, raising the hourly minimum wage to $15.44. It also proposes tax relief for low-income Shelby County families, including the elderly, disabled residents and veterans.

Initially, $2 million was allocated for a one-time property tax relief program, aiding about 8,700 families in Memphis and Shelby County.

If this year’s budget proposed by Harris is approved by the commission, $2.4 million will be dedicated to property tax relief “for hundreds and hundreds of families,” Harris said.

“For some families, we will pay their entire property tax bill,” Harris said.

His budget also included an increased investment in the Memphis Area Transit Authority, committing $1.3 million in the operating budget and another $1 million in the capital improvement projects budget to MATA.

“Everyone in our community deserves the opportunity to be able to get to work, to get to medical care, and to be able to get home in time to have dinner with their families,” Harris said. “Our transit system will never work the way we want, the way we need it to work for our community to grow and thrive, unless all of us pitch in.”

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On education, the county will continue its $8.5 million annual investment to pre-kindergarten and early pre-kindergarten.

The budget also proposes a $1 million increase in overall funding for public schools, bringing the education general fund contribution to $428 million.

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And, the budget includes $28 million in school construction funding, with Harris pointing toward the need for Memphis Shelby County Schools to address deferred maintenance and move toward building a new high school in the Frayser community.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Harris proposes property tax, budgets for schools and transit