Common ground in budget talks remains elusive

Listening to the annual squabbles over budget proposals that Memphis City Council members and Shelby County commissioners have among themselves, and with their respective mayoral administrations, it quickly becomes clear that both bodies lack consensus about the local governments’ future direction.

Consensus does not mean that everybody should be in complete agreement on every issue related to revenues, spending and taxation. But there should be some way to concur on common goals — both shortand long-term — that can help guide and shape their budget discussions from the start.

Because they cannot reach such consensus among themselves and with the mayors’ administrations on a long-range vision, both bodies continue to pass budgets that basically look only a year ahead. That has been the approach in recent days during budget deliberations for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

Under the city and county charters, each mayor presents a budget and a proposed property-tax rate to his legislative body for its members’ approval. The legislators have the power to make changes in the mayor’s proposals.

That kind of checks-and-balances authority, in principle, is a good thing when it occurs in an atmosphere of reasonableness and shared purpose. But the system breaks down when the budget decisions being advocated by some council members or commissioners are shaped purely by political ideology or, in some cases, personal animosity.

For example, is it prudent for some commissioners or council members, without a clear picture of their government’s finances, to declare before budget deliberations even begin that they will not vote for an increase in the property tax?

On the opposite side of that coin, is it wise for others on the council or commission to push to fund just about everything, without having a thorough understanding of how revenue projections stack up against proposed expenditures?

Because of a reduction in property values, Memphis will lose $14 million in property tax revenue in the coming fiscal year, while the county is facing a $54 million drop.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell submitted budgets that contained property tax increases to make up those amounts and to fund other obligations.

The commission has approved an ordinance on first reading that would raise the county property tax rate by 36 cents to make up that loss and take care of other funding obligations. The council is considering Wharton’s proposal to raise the city property tax rate by 40 cents for the same reasons.

Before the council and commission finally approve spending plans and set the tax rates, there will be more haggling over whether taxes really need to be raised, whether the hikes should be smaller, and what expenditures should be fully funded, reduced or cut out of the budgets.

The result will likely be 11th-hour budget approvals that once again reflect a limited vision of the city’s and county’s financial futures.

It might make for a better outcome if the council members and commissioners met periodically throughout the year with their respective mayors, in public, to thoroughly review government finances and discuss short- and long-term goals and strategies for reaching them.

That kind of information sharing would set a framework from which budget deliberations could begin in an atmosphere that recognizes common priorities as well as financial realities.