We've got several important public policy stories in today's newspaper, including my story talking to county mayor-elect Mark Luttrell about his transition from Shelby County sheriff's office at the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar to his new office on Main Street at the Vasco Smith Administration Building. When I asked Luttrell about how he's going about getting a grasp of his top priorities, the very first thing he mentioned was a visit with Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, who of course occupied that office across the street for seven years.
Check out the story to see Luttrell's thoughts on transition task forces. Some items we did not include in the story that Luttrell also emphasized were The Regional Medical Center at Memphis and single-source school funding for Memphis City Schools.
"I don't think The Med is saved," Lutrell said, repeating his assertion on the campaign trail that his Democratic opponent, Joe Ford, was overstating the extent to which The Med's future had been secured. "I still think The Med has some real problems facing it. ... We still have some real problems with the revenue stream of The Med."
Lutrell said he believes one key is convincing state and federal legislators and administrators that Memphis and Shelby County can be relied upon to manage The Med with efficiency, fiscal discipline and innovation. He would not commit to pushing to build a new Med, although the Republican nominee for governor, Bill Haslam, has given strong indications that he would support of finding longterm cost savings by replacing the public hospital's patchwork of disintegrating infastructure with a more modern, more efficient facility replacement. Said Luttrell: "Before talking about a new Med, we need to talk about getting our business act together here and show we can efficiently use the funds we have. Let's make what we have work before we go out and start building something else."
On city schools funding, Luttrell said the county could well face an immediate funding crisis depending on how the state Supreme Court rules on the lawsuits seeking to determine where city taxpayers should be obligated to provide some portion of MCS funding. If a ruling comes down saying the county must absorb the city funding of approximately $57 million, that would create a challenge; however, if a ruling came down saying the county not only must absorb that $57 million but must then fund county schools at the same per-pupil rate, county taxpayers would be looking at huge tax increases.
Luttrell said he and Wharton breifly discussed school funding "as the big elephant in the room." Luttrell wants to immediately create contingency plans for funding. "We have to start planning for that eventuality right now," Luttrell said. "From the campaign I picked up the current administration has not put a great deal of thought into it."
Check out the story to see Luttrell's thoughts on transition task forces. Some items we did not include in the story that Luttrell also emphasized were The Regional Medical Center at Memphis and single-source school funding for Memphis City Schools.
"I don't think The Med is saved," Lutrell said, repeating his assertion on the campaign trail that his Democratic opponent, Joe Ford, was overstating the extent to which The Med's future had been secured. "I still think The Med has some real problems facing it. ... We still have some real problems with the revenue stream of The Med."
Lutrell said he believes one key is convincing state and federal legislators and administrators that Memphis and Shelby County can be relied upon to manage The Med with efficiency, fiscal discipline and innovation. He would not commit to pushing to build a new Med, although the Republican nominee for governor, Bill Haslam, has given strong indications that he would support of finding longterm cost savings by replacing the public hospital's patchwork of disintegrating infastructure with a more modern, more efficient facility replacement. Said Luttrell: "Before talking about a new Med, we need to talk about getting our business act together here and show we can efficiently use the funds we have. Let's make what we have work before we go out and start building something else."
On city schools funding, Luttrell said the county could well face an immediate funding crisis depending on how the state Supreme Court rules on the lawsuits seeking to determine where city taxpayers should be obligated to provide some portion of MCS funding. If a ruling comes down saying the county must absorb the city funding of approximately $57 million, that would create a challenge; however, if a ruling came down saying the county not only must absorb that $57 million but must then fund county schools at the same per-pupil rate, county taxpayers would be looking at huge tax increases.
Luttrell said he and Wharton breifly discussed school funding "as the big elephant in the room." Luttrell wants to immediately create contingency plans for funding. "We have to start planning for that eventuality right now," Luttrell said. "From the campaign I picked up the current administration has not put a great deal of thought into it."
Leave a comment