The Tax-Rate Misadventure Yes, that was us administering an editorial pat on the collective backs of the Shelby County commissioners just last week, when we thought the various components of the county's legislative body were on the verge of reaching agreement on a tax-rate increase for the next fiscal year. Well, "never mind," as the Emily Litella character on Saturday Night Live used to say. The provisional agreement on a 65-cent increase, coupled with a $17 hike in the county wheel tax, fell apart, and consensus could not be reached on a substitute 73-cent measure. (Typical of the on-again, off-again nature of commission proceedings was the fact that Commissioner Linda Rendtorff, sponsor of that variant the previous week, deserted it herself at the commission's special meeting last Thursday.) Henceforth, we'll believe that an agreement exists when it's voted on -- and not until. Complicating the issue even further is Memphis' industrial and commercial monolith Federal Express, whose enormous economic impact upon the county is matched, perhaps, by its ability to twist the arms of local officials. Well, those lawmakers' limbs are under serious assault now, as FedEx has chosen to launch a massive lobbying effort on behalf of an even lower tax-rate increase -- 59 cents -- than has previously been thought possible, even by most of the commission's fiscal conservatives. FedEx argues, in essence, that the Rout administration has overestimated the amount of reserve funds the county must hold to accommodate unheard property tax appeals. Maybe so, maybe no. If it's true, though, why haven't we heard it long before now? We're already into the new fiscal year and were at the time of the commission's first emergency meeting last week! This belated intervention by FedEx reflects no great credit on it. But the company's actions could hardly be so disruptive if the commission and the Rout administration hadn't themselves failed in their duties to (a) keep the public fully apprised of the difficulties inherent in the tax-rate issue; and (b) move with all deliberate speed toward a resolution of them. This isn't to say that there wasn't a lot of serious behind-the-scenes discussion among principals -- involving trade-offs, compromises, and all manner of efforts at mutual accommodation. But this activity has not only been largely in camera, it was late in coming. And partisanship, always a problem with the politically and racially polarized body, has now and again infected the controversy. Meanwhile, what figure is right for a tax increase? Does anybody know? We have heard a progression of estimates -- from $1.34 to 92 cents to 73 cents to (in the opinion of a very few diehards in the community) Absolute Zero. Now we hear 59 cents. Thanks largely to the efforts of a business/citizens' group which has lobbied hard on behalf of overdue educational improvements, the commission and the administration probably won't pass the buck this time. We'll surely see something passed. What and when remain to be seen. Meanwhile, we've learned from experience. For the time being, we're sitting on our hands.