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Has Tennessee Brewery Been Sold?Recent news of the Tennessee Brewery building being sold to an Atlanta developer may be a little premature. The August issue of The Downtowner magazine reported that Atlanta developer Jerry Williams purchased the building last month. "Williams' plan for the brewery is yet to be finalized," according to the article, "but rest assured, this treasure will remain on the bluff into the next century, preserving a piece of Memphis' past." Although a sale is in the works, the deal is not yet finalized. Representatives from involved parties met in Environmental Court Friday, August 6th, says Jennifer Tucker, a historic preservation planner with the Memphis Landmarks Commission. Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter postponed the decision. The building's fate is tied up because of anti-neglect fees still levied against it by the Memphis Fire Department. According to the potential buyer's lawyer, James Lockard, the parties are to report back to court on August 27th with the details of the sale worked out. The Fire Department took Brew Tenn LLC, the current owners of the building, to court after the inspectors found building safety problems. In January, the fire department contended that the building could not be transferred to a new owner until the fees were paid. The Tennessee Brewery building was built in 1890 and closed in 1954. At one time, it was the largest brewery in the South. --Mary Cashiola Recycler Drops Bid for Property Near ElmwoodEntrepreneur Kevin Lawrence has withdrawn his application for a permit to operate a recycling center at the corner of Dudley and Sledge, just north of Historic Elmwood Cemetery. The controversial project, which would have involved the processing of large objects such as junked cars, was opposed by Elmwood officials, who expressed concerns about noise and pollution. But Lawrence cites the Memphis Housing Authority, which operates the nearby Lamar Terrace housing development, as a key factor in his decision to drop the proposal. "I wanted to explain to MHA what I was planning to do, and they wouldn't return my phone calls," he says. "Then they appeared at the [Land Use Control Board] hearing and said they were opposed because they hadn't had time to review [the plan]. My attorney said, 'With MHA opposing it, you don't have a chance.'" "Don't blame it on MHA, okay?" counters MHA executive director Robert Lipscomb. "I never refused to meet with [Lawrence]. My only position was that the tenants should have an opportunity to review the proposal, because it would impact their neighborhood." Lawrence says that Burruss Co., the Virginia-based owner of the 16-acre site, was anxious to sell. It now appears likely that Burruss will offer the property to Elmwood, which will in turn sell it and give Burruss a tax write-off. "You would have thought the city would have been more supportive," says Lawrence. "[My business] would have put that property back on the tax rolls. They don't make any money off Elmwood -- it's tax-exempt." -- Debbie Gilbert Another Officer Charged with Domestic AssaultFor the second time in three weeks, the Memphis Police Department is investigating a second domestic violence incident involving one of its own officers. The two incidents actually happened within 30 hours of each other in late July. Some police officers are privately complaining about the apparent double standards in how the department handled the two cases. On July 25th, Sgt. Michael Jeff Clark was arrested for the simple assault of his wife. In the second incident, police found Lt. A.J. Christian at 3606 Mary Cove on the morning of July 26th. He apparently got into a fight with his live-in girlfriend, Phyllis Grandberry, who was five months' pregnant. "[Christian] got very upset, putting her in headlock and striking her repeatedly in the head," records say. "[Witness] stated they stopped, but later when she went into their bedroom and observed [Christian] strike [Grandberry] in the face onto the bed." Instead of making an arrest, both Christian and Grandberry were given misdemeanor citations. Grandberry was cited because Christian claimed she jumped on top of him at one point. In handing out citations, however, the department has contradicted state law. If there's probable cause "of a crime involving domestic abuse," the law reads, "the preferred response of the officer is arrest." The department won't comment on the incidents. Christian has yet to be administratively charged, though an investigation is ongoing. Clark's hearing is this week. During Clark's court hearing, prosecutors declined to press charges, and his arrest record was expunged. -- Phil Campbell Property Tax Increase: Hard Times During Good Times?A budget surplus in Washington. A stock market that has soared past Dow 10,000. Two new major-league teams in Nashville (and the national champion Tennessee Vols in Knoxville). Over $1 billion of investment in downtown Memphis, and suburban sprawl all the way to the Fayette County line. All in all, pretty good times, no? Amid all this prosperity, state and county government can't balance their books. Elected officials in Nashville and Memphis are sniping at each other. Republican Governor Don Sundquist and Republican Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout, not known as a couple of liberal big-spenders, have seen their tax proposals flatly rejected. Memphis' number-one corporate citizen, Federal Express, is under fire over a difference in property-tax proposals that is roughly equal to the cost of a few rock concert tickets. What in the world is going on? Anyone who has lived in Memphis for a decade or more will remember other sky-is-falling predictions at budget crunch time. But the contrast between political poor-mouthing and a strong local and state economy may never have been greater than it is now in Memphis. Ten years ago, the south bluffs of downtown consisted of an empty railroad yard. The only housing on Mud Island was the Riverset Apartments. Goldsmith's had closed its downtown store, and Peabody Place was still a dream. Federal Express was a $7 billion company centered around the airport. Hickory Hill was a modest residential community near Winchester Road. Nationally, a recession was around the corner, and the stock market crash of 1987 was a fresh memory. The Dow was flirting with 3000. How much better things look today. FedEx has not one but three new headquarters office buildings. AutoZone has filled a hole in the downtown skyline with a sleek glass headquarters. The Pyramid bookends the north end of the downtown skyline, while blufftop mansions line the South Bluffs. Midtown has 200 new houses in the old expressway corridor. Collierville and Southwind are bulging with new housing and office development. So why do state and local governments need tax increases? And why are individual and corporate citizens so reluctant to approve them? A few guesses: · There has been a loss of community spirit which, come to think of it, wasn't that strong to begin with. And there is an undercurrent of meanness. The got-mine spirit of the toy-towns movement lives. To a lot of the middle-class and upper-class, public means poor. Public schools, public health care, public transportation, public parks and community centers -- those things are for poor people, not me and mine, the thinking goes. As recently as the early 1960s, that wasn't true. Public schools still had students from all income levels, which is a very different thing than collecting property taxes from everyone. Today the better public schools essentially tax themselves via parent donations to offer extra benefits they can't get from the budget. · There is a lack of community leadership at the highest levels. Some groups, however, have tried. A coalition of suburban mayors and bankers rallied behind the schools. The Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce boldly proposed a minimum $60 million increase for school funding and a $1.36 tax increase for the county. But these proposals lacked support from key leaders. In a puzzling eleventh-hour lobbying effort, FedEx campaigned for a 59-cent county tax increase, far less than what the chamber recommended or what the Shelby County Commission approved last week. The effort did nothing but put several commissioners and the daily newspaper at odds with our leading corporate citizen. · Political leaders can't even rally members of their own party. In light of the 72-cent tax increase approved last week by the county commission, it is startling to realize that three months earlier Mayor Rout and Supterintendent James Mitchell proposed an increase of $1.34, or nearly twice that much. "We take our budget responsibilities seriously, and I can assure you that this request from my administration is anything but a wish list," says Rout, a veteran of 20 years of county budgets. "I have not asked for one cent more than I believe that we need nor one cent less than is necessary to maintain basic and vital services." In that case, we are now looking at 62 cents less than basic and vital. Sundquist has been roughed even more than Rout by his own party for his state tax proposals. · There is a backlash against corporate welfare. Corporations and industrial recruiters insist it's a fact of life, but tax incentives and tax dodges like limited liability corporations are drawing increasing skepticism. Even Sundquist has said "everyone has figured out how to beat the system." County Commissioner Shep Wilbun took FedEx to task for the tardiness of its lobbying campaign and what he saw as the company's arrogance. "It is precisely because we have been as generous in working with them that $74 million worth of benefits have been extended to them," he said. "But for that, we might not be at this crossroads today." It was good theatre, but it overlooked a couple of things. Wilbun himself is the beneficiary of a tax freeze on some downtown property he has owned since 1987. His tax savings is $875 a year or $13,125 over the 15 years of the freeze. More to the point, tax freezes don't take a huge bite out of the overall county budget. According to Trustee Bob Patterson, a watchdog over tax freezes if ever there was one, the total abatement is about $10 million a year. The 72-cent increase in the property tax, on the other hand, will raise about $86 million a year, which is why politicians turn to broad-based taxes when they need to raise some real money. Tax freezes aren't going away. Just the opposite. A panel appointed by Rout studied the issues and decided to liberalize them to include more low-wage businesses. At least in theory, a tax freeze is offset by wages and investment. There are abusers who don't fulfill their employment contracts. But targeting FedEx, which employs nearly 30,000 people locally, is an odd choice. · Blame it on the assessor. The assessor's office, going back to the early 1980s, is the shadowy figure in this tax drama. While Bill Boyd was assessor in the 1980s, the office failed to complete a reappraisal on schedule. The result was that for years many Memphians enjoyed low appraisals that didn't reflect anything close to the true market value of their property. The three assessors who followed Boyd, including Michael Hooks, Harold Sterling, and Rita Clark, all finished reappraisals. Many homeowners have seen their appraisals and their taxes increase substantially three times in this decade. Some experts think high-end appraisals are still too low. John Farmer of Chandler & Chandler compiled a list of 221 commercial and residential properties that were underappraised based on recent sales. For example, Clark Tower sold for $54.5 million but was appraised at $29 million. The total difference between appraisals and sales price of the 221 properties on Chandler's list is $276 million, or almost $4 million in lost taxes. But the assessor's office and county administration declined to pursue it. · Crime and schools cost a lot of money. Rout says 73 percent of all property taxes are spent on criminal justice and schools. The Shelby County Sheriff's Department, including the jail, gets $94 million, or 22 percent of the operating budget. On the city side, the police department also gets 22 percent of that budget. · Some growth is pretty but deceptive. Some of the things that make Memphis and Shelby County look better don't help the bottom line much. The Pyramid, the trolley, and Mud Island all operate with either a deficit or a small surplus (The Pyramid) which pales in comparison to the debt service. And new office headquarters, including FedEx, Thomas & Betts, Peabody Place, and AutoZone, receive tax freezes. · Public debt is growing. Just as credit-card debt catches up with individuals who go on a spending spree, bond debt has caught up with the county. Commissioner Mark Norris estimates it at $1.2 billion, which has mainly gone for schools, roads, bridges, and buildings. "Everyone asks how much debt is too much," Norris says. "The final judge is the rating agency, and we have been told that at least one rating agency is on the verge of downgrading our rating (now AA). If that happens, the cost of additional borrowing goes up." Norris says more tax increases are likely. "Unless we get away from business as usual, yes, there will be requests for additional hikes to meet debt service and education costs," he says. · Ignorance is fueling the fire. Some commissioners reported getting calls from FedEx employees who said, in so many words, "Yeah, we're against a tax increase." FedEx, of course, favored a 59-cent increase. One commissioner, Marilyn Loeffel, opposed any tax increase, and at least one candidate for city council is campaigning on a promise of "No New Taxes." Presumably there is a constituency for such simplistic appeals. When Don Sundquist, Jim Rout, and the chamber of commerce are bracketing the target from the other direction, you can only shake your head in wonder. —John Branston |
