Mayor blasts Shelby decision
Commissioners vote to use $16.5M from reserves
Shelby County commissioners voted 7-4 on Monday night to dig deep into the government’s reserve funds to cover the next fiscal year’s budget, a move that County Mayor Lee Harris blasted on Twitter as reckless.
The budget is not yet final, but according to an amendment approved on Monday night during a specially called committee meeting, the county government will use $16.5 million from reserves to cover expenses.
That’s a significantly bigger bite out of reserves than commissioners had been discussing earlier, and it leaves a smaller reserve than the county usually keeps on hand — Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. said he’d been told the current reserve is about $92 million.
“The Commission has just voted to blow the County’s fund policy,” Harris wrote on Twitter. “Frankly, this is reckless, fiscally imprudent, and will impair the County’s financial standing. Among other consequences, this vote means that the County doesn’t have money to make payroll later this year.
Payroll.” One of Harris’ major opponents on the commission, Ford, said Harris is whining on social media about not getting the budget he wanted. “I see it as a empty threat from a desperate administration who’s throwing a Hail Mary at the last second for someone to go back to his wheel tax budget and put his pet projects in and overspend,” Ford said in an interview after the meeting. Harris had originally proposed an increase in the vehicle registration fee, or wheel tax, and has also backed projects including a new high school in Frayser. Ford also said Harris is failing to deal with the issues and leaving the hard work to the commission. “And I think his lack of leadership needs to be exposed.” Commissioner Van Turner also supported the use of reserve funds, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the deep recession. “This is more than just a rainy day. It’s raining cats and dogs. It’s storming.” He said he hoped credit rating agencies would show the county some grace, given the circumstances. “If we have to go to fund balance or we have to borrow the money, so be it,” Turner continued. The full budget is expected to include about $1.3 billion, with much of the money going toward local schools, the Sheriff’s department and an array of other programs. The commissioners delayed a final vote on the full budget until the June 22 meeting. The delay aims to give the mayor’s administration more time to calculate the details of the amendments that the commissioners had made, Ford said. Monday’s meeting was conducted by video conference. Voting in favor of using the $16.5 million from the reserve fund were Mark Billingsley, David C. Bradford, Ford, Eddie Jones, Mickell M. Lowery, Amber Mills and Turner. Voting against were Reginald Milton, Brandon Morrison, Michael Whaley and Mick Wright. Tami Sawyer abstained. For reasons that were not immediately clear, the commission took a second vote on the same matter, yielding close to the same result.
‘Chameleon-like changes’
Ford said he and budget chairman Commissioner Eddie Jones had written a letter of complaint about the Harris administration to Justin P. Wilson, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. The commissioners complained Harris’ administration is presenting “chameleonlike changes of figures.” “I have confidence that a balanced budget will be passed promptly, but we want assurances by your office that the documents that are presented to your office pass the smell test,” they wrote. Ford and Harris have publicly clashed earlier during this year’s budget debate, and Harris has said he believes Ford has personal grievances against him that go back years. Harris said the administration uses the reserve fund to make up periodic shortfalls in money, and that the government’s calculations show the reserve fund could drop to a level so low that the county will run out of money sometime in November and December. That would mean the government would have to go out on the market and look for a financial institution willing to lend money to cover payroll, he said. “So in my view, I have to give notice that that’s irresponsible — is that our first order of business has got to be to meet our obligations as they come due,” Harris said.
Budget dispute began weeks ago
In early April, Mayor Harris had proposed deep budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His proposed budget also included a wheel tax increase to balance revenue losses and raise money for schools. In late April, County Commissioners moved to scrap the budget proposed by County Mayor Lee Harris and create their own. The commission has not proposed tax increases. Harris and other top administrators had criticized the commission’s moves. “Unfortunately, so far, the Commission has taken a buzz saw to the County’s budget, cutting vital programs, and putting jobs at risk,” Harris wrote in an online post released Monday. He went on to describe cuts to specific programs. “There will likely be layoffs or the elimination of needed positions in various county offices, including Homeland Security, the Health Department, Juvenile Court, the Office of the Public Defender, Finance, Human Resources, County Attorney, Information Technology Services, and our Low-income Commodities Food Program, among others.” Commissioners responded that dipping into reserves would prevent layoffs and cuts.
Lengthy debate and confusion
Monday’s meeting was marked by lengthy discussion and confusion over the numbers and facts. At 5:30 p.m., about two-and-a-half hours into the meeting, commissioner Eddie Jones was still debating with staffers within the mayor’s administration about how to set up an Excel spreadsheet showing budget basics. The video conference began at 3 p.m. The critical votes on the reserve fund took place between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. The commissioners discussed other items and the meeting finally finished about 9 p.m., six hours after it started. A previously scheduled presentation by Sheriff Floyd Bonner was delayed until a committee meeting on Wednesday.
Juneteenth a county holiday
Late in the meeting, in a separate matter, Commissioner Mickell M. Lowery proposed a measure to recognize June 19 — or Juneteenth — as a holiday for county employees. Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the United States, when enslaved African-americans in Galveston, Texas were told on June 19, 1865 that they were free. The holiday is this week, but given the short time frame, it will be celebrated as a county holiday for the first time in June 2021. The measure passed 10-0, with Morrison abstaining. Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.