This blog contains new measurement insights with questions that might be asked in a typical political discourse where an anti-taxpayer conspiracy was not at play. There is no social justice or fiscal conservatism with the persistence of runaway elitism that supports $90M in recurring annual tax incentives.
Furthering local decline, there is an ongoing, elitist and premeditated conspiracy occurring in Memphis and Shelby County. Amidst new budget concerns, that have been in the pipeline for some time, the elitist conspiracy is being carried out by a vast and diverse public-private complex on the back of a Memphis community in need.
It’s premeditated because the public-private complex thrives without measurement, legislative oversight or course correction when public funding initiatives fail to achieve desired results and while the same people are rewarded. A conspiracy only takes 7 votes in local legislative bodies. But with regard to the County Commission, the conspiracy is unanimous.
Abating boards, such as the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE), routinely appear before legislative bodies where data supported concerns of bogus projection accounting, excessive incentives or botched workforce development efforts are never confronted or investigated while the same people are sustained when achieveing deficient results. All of this occurring, while corporate/real estate interests, for the small few, thrive on the back of a Memphis community in need.
As an example, the same person, Al Bright was recently reappointed to Chair the EDGE Board for another 8 years with a unanimous vote and without any questioning ! Bright, a corporate attorney, could hold no jockstraps in defending the deficient results of the EDGE Board while the reappointment insults taxpayers on so many levels.
Local legislators, in effect, disregard checks and balances found in rotating board appointments while rewarding Bright with a 16 yr overall term with the reappointment. Then, taxpayers are further insulted with the messaging that there is no one else capable in all of Shelby County in Chairing the EDGE Board. And investigative questions by legislative bodies or the press are never posed.
Below are some questions with new data insights that would typically be posed, on the record, in a non-conspiratorial legislative environment (with some rhetorical spin).
How Much Is being abated and spent on economic development Countywide ?
Nobody knows the answer to this question. First, because the question is never posed by legislators and secondly because there are no published reports that reveal the answer. Taxpayers can get a gauge of local incentives excessiveness by reviewing the 2019 State of TN Comptroller Report.
The report reveals that Shelby County has 512 parcels under PILOT contract, Davidson 35, Knox 68 and Hamilton 38. Review of this report, should lead one to conclude that the use of tax incentives are excessive in Shelby County. This reality thwarts tax revenue growth.
Another report that can be used is the 2018 Shelby County Trustee Report. The above analysis assumes City/County participation in abatements and makes calculations for City taxes if City taxes are not broken out in the report, on page 6, as is the case with Arlington and Millington. If this assumption is incorrect, please let me know and I will correct the above analysis.
Based on the former assumption, almost $90M in taxes are being abated across all of Shelby County per year. And that $90M does not include TIFs and local government grants. There is not a known report for TIFs and grants. Nor is there a report that forecasts PILOT revenue and abatements going forward. So the total for all incentives for all of Shelby County appears to be well north of $90M per year and will be for some time to come.
With respect to the Shelby County budget, its safe to conclude there is $25M+ excess in tax incentives per year based on previous benchmarking done by this blog. But no one seems to know the total amount of local incentives countywide as the conspiracy prevents discussions and comprehensive consolidated reporting on the matter while such reporting should relate PILOT recipients to their landlord. The previously proposed local small business tax incentive fiscal note impact (TIFNI) platform solution would have provided consolidated reporting and a tool for right sizing abatements. But that solution was kneecapped by the conspiracy.
The closed Memphis elitist system and conspiracy hates problem solving, taxpayer advocacy and local small business solutions that will help move Memphis forward. That is one reason why Memphis has a struggling small business sector and slow economic growth.
And also, current questions for the City of Memphis regarding their 2018 PILOT Report involve the absence of a Valero PILOT payment and low tax rate based on their reported capital investment and the absence of the 2013 Nike PILOT appearing in the report.
Can Anyone Hold a Jockstrap ?
No. Nobody can hold any jockstraps on defending the FedEx/Memphis Tomorrow public-private complex that is down in all categories. It now appears former County Chief Financial Officer, Chris McLean, came in saw what was left over from the Luttrell Administration and fought through one budget year. Then McLean, picked up, booked and got the hell out.
In addition to the excessive corporrate/real estate incentives, the collective conspiracy botched the workforce development system while stifling the small business sector resulting in deficient total wage growth leading to $27.5M in annually recurring Shelby County Tax revenue shortfalls.
Conclusion – Its a Revenue Problem
While there are always ways to reduce spending, the primary Shelby County Budget challenge stems from excessive abatements and slow total wage growth that lead to tax revenue shortfalls. The total Shelby County revenue shortfall from excessive abatements and slow total wage growth is approximately $52.5M per year.
But the conspiracy does not allow for investigations or discussions regarding revenue shortfalls from deficient economic and workforce development initiatives. So taxpayers can look forward to service cuts or significant increases in taxes/fees occurring on the back of a Memphis community in need. There is no social justice or fiscal conservatism in the face of runaway elitism…..