Suburban budgets: Here’s what you need to know
Corinne S Kennedy and Katherine Burgess
Municipalities across Shelby County will invest in public safety services in the coming fiscal year with Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville and Germantown increasing their public safety budgets or adding more police and fire personnel.
In Lakeland, a budget and tax rate have been passed, but a pending loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund a high school could result in future changes to the tax rate and budget. Either way, commissioners expect to begin the process of building a $35 million-$40 million high school for the city.
Here's what you need to know about the 2019-2020 fiscal year budgets for Memphis' suburban communities.
Arlington
2019-20 general fund budget: $10 million
Percent increase/decrease from current year: 19% increase School budget: $49 million Tax increase: Arlington raised its taxes by 22 cents, bringing it to a total of $1.37. That means the owner of a home appraised at $200,000 would pay $110 more to the city annually.
Public safety: The budget included the addition of 12 employees in the fire department. The tax increase supported the addition of a second fire station.
Other items of note: The budget overall included a 17% increase in personnel for the town’s employees. The other positions were in public works and the parks department.
Bartlett 2019-20 general fund budget: $55
million
Percent increase/decrease from current year: 2% increase School budget: $89 million Tax increase: No Public safety: The public safety budget increases from the current year by about $800,000. Two years ago, the budget added public safety personnel.
Other items of note: The budget recommends increasing sanitation fees by $5 per month per customer. Proceeds will be used to make the solid waste fund self-sufficient. There also is an increase in water and sewer rates of $2 each per month per customer. The budget also includes a city-wide salary increase of 2%.
Collierville 2019-20 general fund budget: $60
See BUDGETS, Page 4Z