MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thursday night at ABC24's Let's Talk meeting in Whitehaven, Memphis City Council leaders said a new tax increase could be coming next year.
While a 2025 fiscal year budget has not been approved yet, two councilwomen who represent Whitehaven, Pearl Eva Walker and Yolanda Cooper-Sutton, addressed a potential property tax increase in next year’s budget.
Whitehaven residents want to know where their tax money will go, especially considering the current conditions of the neighborhood.
Dime bags on the sidewalk, bags full of garbage near the street to abandoned buildings, apparent abandoned vehicles and craters lining Elvis Presley Blvd are some people’s first impression of Whitehaven. But Whitehaven resident Barbara Tyler said this is not the neighborhood she remembers.
“The way the neighborhood [was] when I moved here in the early '70s was beautiful,” Tyler said.
Tyler wants blight removed, vacant buildings to have business and roads to finally be fixed.
“There are just holes and ruts, tearing up the cars," Tyler said.
Friday afternoon, Memphis City Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton confirmed there will be a tax increase "somewhere down the line."
While Councilwoman Cooper-Sutton does not have specifics because a fiscal year 2025 budget has not been approved, she said revenue from the tax rate increase will likely be used to fix the city's crumbling infrastructure and unleash a major battle against blight, including the blight in Whitehaven.
"We want to see our dollars being used the way that we said and promised that they would be used,” Councilwoman Cooper-Sutton said.
The budget deadline is July 1.