Why We Exist
Memphis has never had a shortage of speeches about itself. What it has had a shortage of is receipts.
For decades, Memphis taxpayers have been asked to trust the process. Trust the budget. Trust that the money is going where it's supposed to go. Trust that next year's plan will fix what this year's plan didn't.
The trust has been given. The receipts have not.
The 901 Report is a year-round pocket-watch on how the City of Memphis spends the people's money. Budget season is the loudest moment of the year, but the spending doesn't stop when the vote does, and neither do we.
We read the budget. We track the spending all year long. We take tips from residents, employees, and insiders. We alert the Memphis City Council when the numbers don't add up. And when council members vote against the people of Memphis anyway, we put that on the record too.
What we do is simple. We verify every number against the source documents the city itself publishes. We cite every page. We write in plain English so any Memphian can check our work line by line.
We do this because a city is not its press releases. A city is its spending. The budget is where the speeches stop and the dollars start. The contracts, the line items, the quiet transfers between funds, that's where the promises become real, or don't.
And we believe Memphis, every neighborhood, every ZIP code, every taxpayer, has the right to see exactly what the spending says.
No spin. No team colors. No outrage for outrage's sake.
Just the receipts.
Your city. Your money. Your receipts.
How We Work
Year-round. Every figure we publish is traceable to a public document. Every tip we receive is reviewed. Every council vote is on the record. We answer to one audience: the people whose taxes pay for all of it.
On Our Anonymity
The 901 Report is published anonymously by design. The work stands on its sources, not on the person reading them. Every figure we publish is traceable to a public document. You don't need to know who we are to verify what we found.