MEMPHIS, August 4, 2026 - An amendment that would let the City of Memphis recover the cost of police calls to short-term rental properties was drafted to be attached to an ordinance up for first reading on August 4. It was not attached, and it is still under legal review.

Councilman Philip Spinosa, who chairs the Planning and Zoning Committee and sponsors the underlying ordinance, told the committee that morning what happened and what the amendment is meant to do.

He said the amendment was originally going to be attached to the ordinance that would be downstairs for first reading that day, that the council was not going to do that, and that he wanted to read it for clarity.

What he read into the record

He described four elements.

Emergency calls would not be penalized. He said that specifically and first.

The purpose is to limit the burden placed on the Memphis Police Department and the fire division for public and chronic nuisance incidents by providing a means of cost recovery for police services.

Short-term rental property owners would be held accountable for their guests and for the use of the home as a short-term rental, by having on record a phone number for each owner that the police department can reach when incidents occur.

And the Division of Planning and Development, code enforcement, or whatever other qualifying city office is designated would be able to report those incidents to environmental court for cost recovery fees, remediation and appeals.

He then told the committee the amendment is still under legal review, as are a number of others, that these will change, and that the council plans to add some of them over the next three readings if members have any.

No committee member asked a question about it. The item was listed on the committee agenda as a discussion item and required no vote.

The ordinance that did move

The ordinance the amendment was drafted for went forward without it.

Item 5 on the regular agenda that afternoon was an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 5856, which established the rules and regulations governing the operation and regulation of short-term rentals in Memphis, by amending Section 8, titled Compliance, to detail enforcement of short-term rentals reported as a public nuisance. It is Ordinance No. 5980 and Councilman Spinosa sponsors it.

It was read as part of the consent agenda, passed first reading in a single vote with six other items, and drew no floor discussion.

It has two more readings to go, which is the window Councilman Spinosa described for adding amendments.

What happens next

Ordinance No. 5980 passed first reading on August 4 and requires two further readings. Councilman Spinosa said amendments, including this one, may be added across those readings once legal review is complete. The record does not set a date for the amendment to be filed and does not state when the legal review will conclude.

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