January 7, 2006

You couldn't make this stuff up even if you tried

By Ben Cunningham
In an interview this week Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton was asked about a new ordinance approved by two thirds of Memphis voters last year. The law requires city employees to live in Memphis. Apparently this is causing some problems in recruiting. Mayor Henrenton said:

"Now it's easy to say, 'Well, they want to work here, make them move to Memphis.' I understand that. But there are some people who are in the marketplace, they have other choices. They might decide they've got a nice house somewhere, they're not going to pay city and county taxes."

Yes, you read that correctly. The mayor says that people don't want to work for the city because they would prefer to live in a city with lower taxes. Wonder how your average taxpayer feels?

Update: Just remembered this audio clip which we posted on our TnTaxRevolt web site last year. Its from a TV interview of Mayor Herenton. He was asked what he thought about residents of Memphis who said they would move out if his 53 cent tax increase proposal was approved. This (MP3 file) is what he said.