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 THE CITY COUNCIL LOVES PORK
City Council Pork Barrel Since no city council seats are elected city-wide any more, each council member concerns himself/herself primarily with what is good for the district in which each is elected. It makes it easier for them to get re-elected. As a result, council members divvy up pork barrel projects for each one’s district with little regard to real city needs. Here are some recent examples of poor use of taxpayer money to benefit individual council members. • Whitehaven Golf Center $4 million for a golf course nobody will play plus $700,000 a year to maintain it. When the city council eliminated the Memphis Park Commission they said it was because the citizen-board disregarded the council priority list for park projects. One such project was the board’s refusal to rebuild the recently purchased Whitehaven Country Club property into a city golf course, as desired by council woman Tajuan Stout Mitchell. The board refused to do so because the $200,000 master plan for Memphis parks submitted by the park board (and approved earlier by the city council) called for that property to be turned into a multi-use, neighborhood park to replace McKellar Park, which had been sold to the airport authority. Outside experts who prepared the master plan recommended against any new city-owned golf facilities. The council approved the golf center in Ms. Mitchell’s district and allocated more than $4 million for a nine-hole golf course and community building. The parks division has included $700,000 in next year’s operating budget for maintenance and operation of the facility. After revenue from operations, this new center should place an additional half-million dollars a year burden on the city’s operating budget. When one former councilman was asked why it was approved, he answered, “Oh, we just had to give Tajuan her four million dollars.” • Riverside Golf Clubhouse $1.5 million for a “Taj Mahal” at a little-played golf facility After Mitchell got “her $4 million” for Whitehaven Golf Center, Councilman Edmund Ford then demanded a new clubhouse for Riverside Golf Course in his district, and the council, of course, approved. A new $1.5 million, 5,000-square-foot club house and snack bar will open soon at Riverside.That is more than twice the size of the clubhouse at the 18-hole golf course of the most expensive private country club in Memphis. Maintenance and operating costs, which already exceed revenue at Riverside, will now go up annually for taxpayers.  Park Services is headed by Robert Fouche as Director. In 1992, the budget showed 419 employees with a cost of $11,311,796. The 2005 adopted budget shows 285 employees in the operating budget with an expenditure of $21,130,125. However to compare apples to apples between 1992 and 2005 you have to go to the Special Revenue Fund section with a budget of $5,275,420 for the Memphis Museums Inc, Summer Food Grants, MLK Park Improvements, Zoo Grant and Shelby County Conservation Board. There are 48 people involved in these items. Then there is also the golf enterprise fund which states its purpose in the budget as “Provide quality public golf facilities that will enable golfers of all levels to enhance enjoyment of the game with no tax burden on the citizens of Memphis”. However, it shows 71 employees and a deficit of $1,315,093. This makes a total of 356 employees and a total expenditure of $27,720,638. This compares to 1992 with 419 employees and a budget of $11,311,796. This is an increase of 145%. As an example in 1991 the golf portion of the parks department budget produced a positive contribution of $819,231. In 2005 the golf enterprise fund will lose $1,315,093 as shown above. You must keep in mind that the City Council chose to do away with the Memphis Park Commission board on April 25, 2000. It decided on a 10-2 vote with only Jack Sammons and Barbara Swearengen Holt casting dissenting votes. Former City Councilman Fred Davis said that the Park Commission Board was created to insulate the park system from the political process. How right he was. | FIRE AND POLICE NEWS | PARK SERVICES | CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE | PUBLIC WORKS | ENGINEERING DIVISION | FINANCE DIVISION | SALARY & BENEFITS | APPOINTED CITY EMPLOYEES | MEMPHIS SCHOOL SYSTEM | RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CORP | INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD | HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT | MEMPHIS SHELBY COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY | | Return Home | TODAYS NEWS AND MAIL | MEMPHIS CITY GOVERNMENT NEWS | MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL NEWS | MLG&W NEWS | SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT | CONTACT US | FAQ Page | MEMPHIS BRIDGE | |
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