Online Exclusive: Wanda Halbert: Metro Government’s Concessions to Consolidation

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Online Exclusive: Metro Government’s Concessions to Consolidation
By: Wanda Halbert, Memphis City Council

When I hear the idea of consolidation, like many, I immediately think “one”. As a former school board member, ten years ago when the issue of consolidating schools was raised, upon first thought, I didn’t necessarily think it was such a bad idea. Having spent my early elementary years in the Memphis public school system then on to the County public school system where I ultimately graduated, I was surprised at the socio-economic and racial arguments used against the idea. It was commonly known across the country, if you wanted to consolidate schools, you needed to consider consolidating government first.

As a first generation post civil rights baby, I grew up in a two parent home that didn’t talk about race relations or rich/poor people. Some of my closest friends to this day are white and many from all spectrums are, let’s just say pretty well off. Our interaction didn’t seem to know much about what we would later discover have become natural divides. My dad like many lost his long time job with International Harvester and actually left home for a while to work out of town to generate income for the family. Though my family struggled after moving into a newly built home, the children never knew we were not “rich.” The economic aftermath of plants closing in Memphis caused a blow to the city. Yet, Memphis continued allowing itself to be overburdened with double taxation.

Today, after years of being elected to represent the citizens of Memphis, those ugly buzz words (socio-economic, racial division) continue to slow progression. During those years, the “C” word has reared its head again. Immediate decisions to not include schools in an effort to move beyond barriers to consolidation were made. My reaction, “Whoa, the appearance of concessions to get what one wants.” For me, any concession to remove the “oneness” of consolidation was a deal breaker to meaningful discussions and debate.

As I sat in the City Council and County Commissioner’s meeting with the Metro Charter Commission, many heard what appeared to be a number of concessions. According to one Charter Commission member, “Concessions are necessary to make progress.” While I agree, concessions are necessary to move beyond hurdles to consolidation, I do not agree the appearance of the toughest concessions should come solely from Memphians. For example, keeping schools separated is still a major component. If we want to continue to live in a day where some people think their children are not worthy of mixing with others (for whatever reasons), shame on us! Hearing the fact that unlike the Nashville consolidation plan, our suburban governments (Millington, Germantown, Bartlett, Lakeland, Collierville, Arlington) will continue to keep ALL municipal powers didn’t quite sit well either. So, Memphis will surrender ALL of its municipal powers as others keep theirs? The argument will be, state law does not allow you to require them to surrender their charters, however, clearly Nashville has proven, metro consolidation of some of the authorities is a concession. If tough concessions are needed they should come from all.

Additionally, while listening to discussions of the Taxing Districts (general, urban, special), we heard comments such as, “Memphis City Schools will be funded by the urban tax district” and “MATA would not be included in the regional transportation plan. We left it in the urban taxing district because of pushback by citizens outside of Memphis who do not want to pay for it.” Well, what constitutes an “urban district?” As told, according to state law, the areas considered Memphis would be categorized as the urban district. If after consolidation Memphis will still pay for many of its current amenities, I am again missing the “oneness” of consolidation. While municipalities choosing to maintain individual charters will have to pay twice for certain amenities such as parks, it will be based on their choice unlike Memphis if a vote were to pass favoring consolidation. Memphians will still pay for two school systems, two transportation budgets, and more.

While there is no doubt the Metro Charter Commission has spent a lot of time exploring consolidation and have found many benefits of same, until all of Memphis and Shelby County are comfortable with the real purpose of our effort to consolidate along with unbalanced concessions, many may not advocate for its adoption. There are ways to improve efficiencies as a metro government and as individual municipalities. There is huge debt in the county and a consolidated tax base sure could help. Failed resolution of inefficiencies in Memphis such as double taxation has helped create a tremendous economic burden on its citizenry while playing a role in enhancing once rural areas to beautifully developed suburban ones.

Memphis and its leadership allowed itself to become a mockery of government and quality of life. Yet, there is no denying its value. I love my city and don’t see its challenges being different than any large urban city in America. But, I can not support the continued abuse of what Memphis means to Shelby County and surrounding municipalities. We complement each other in different ways but the concessions suggested of Memphis for this consolidation plan needs more discussion, debate, work, and fairness. STAND UP MEMPHIS!!

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