Press
Commission to Weigh Need For
Revenue Committee
ANDY MEEK |
The Daily News
July 21, 2008
The Shelby County Board of Commissioners is set to move forward this month
with an idea Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr. first pitched back in May:
a committee that would examine current and future revenue needs of county
government.
Wharton made the suggestion during remarks that gave a dismal assessment of
the county’s financial picture. With the county struggling to hold the line
on the property tax rate in the midst of a tight real estate market and with
no opportunities for new revenue on the horizon, Wharton proposed a
committee that would take a hard look at the county’s balance sheet.
“I have said for the longest time that we cannot cut our way out of our
financial dilemmas,” Wharton told the commission’s budget committee in May,
one month before commissioners approved a $1 billion operating budget that
was the result of just about every cut imaginable.
Addressing the problem
Employee layoffs and buyouts, a hiring freeze, no pay raises and cutbacks in
service across the county’s organizational structure were just some of the
concessions that commissioners made in the budget they approved.
“Devoid of a change in how county government is funded, Shelby County’s
future financial woes will be Exhibit A in proving this point; namely, that
we cannot cut our way out of our problems,” Wharton told commissioners in
his remarks. “This short-term, painstaking accomplishment cannot lull us
into thinking that we have fixed the real long-term problems.”
To address some of those problems, Wharton has asked commissioners to set up
the Committee on Future Revenue Needs for Shelby County Government. The
reason they haven’t done so yet is the body has not agreed on what specific
purpose the committee should work toward or who should comprise its
membership.
It could be argued that the lack of agreement on those points is
illustrative of the larger financial dilemma the county finds itself in.
Wharton, for example, is adamant in his belief the county has a revenue
problem and has told commissioners so on a number of occasions.
Some commissioners such as Mike Ritz, however, think it’s not that simple,
and that the county also needs to get its house in order by reining in
spending.
Wharton’s idea for the panel of experts is to assign its members the task of
studying the county’s current and long-term revenue needs and looking for
ways to address them. Ritz also has drawn up a resolution that takes a
slightly different approach to the same concept.
“My resolution was to appoint a committee of businesspeople, a commissioner
or two, and somebody from the county mayor’s office to review all the county
budgets, all elected officials, all budgets – not schools – and get
recommendations from the business community as to what we should do about
our budget,” said Ritz, a retired banking executive. “(Wharton’s) plan is to
put together a group of people to present something to Nashville to get more
money.
“My thing is, first of all, let’s prove to the business community there’s a
need before we go ask for money. Because the point I made is most of the
people in the business community that I talk to think we’ve got a spending
problem, not a revenue problem.”
Coming together
Grace Hutchinson, deputy director of the county’s division of administration
and finance, said commissioners likely will blend the two proposals in some
form later this month.
“I think Mike’s idea is more specific with regard to the focus, the issues
to be addressed,” she said. “They’ll probably combine (the ideas).”
Wharton’s idea calls for the creation of a panel of experts that includes
between seven and 21 members. He’d like to see the group finish its work no
later than 120 days after its first meeting so any suggestions can be
incorporated into the county’s financial planning as soon as possible.
The group’s members would be culled from the county administration, the
County Commission, the local business community, the Shelby County
legislative delegation and other civic organizations such as faith-based
groups or representatives of nearby municipal governments.
Consideration of Wharton’s proposal comes on the heels of what some
commissioners have regarded as an arduous budget-writing process this year.
“The commission is very supportive of moving forward with trying to figure
out what new possible revenue streams are out there,” said commissioner
Deidre Malone. “Because we’ve got to get ready for next year. It’s going to
be a tougher year next year.”
Wharton believes the county’s financial future depends on ideas for
long-term change that could come out of the committee’s discussion process.
“Given our overdependence on the property tax, no new revenue streams, a
lack of autonomy for the county and a restrictive governance structure, you
know as well as I do that our best efforts this year fail to address the
systemic issues that will continue to perplex future mayors and legislative
bodies for the county,” Wharton told commissioners.
