Memphis Borrowed $7,100,000 to Buy Garbage Trucks on August 4. No One Said the Interest Rate, the Term, or What It Will Cost to Pay Back.

MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL

Two resolutions passed the same evening, one authorizing a financing lease and one amending the FY2027 capital budget to spend the proceeds. The only question asked from the floor was what the phrase "certain other matters relating thereto" means. The answer was closing costs, insurance, and fees to attorneys and the bank.

MEMPHIS, August 4, 2026 - The Memphis City Council authorized the city to enter a financing lease of up to $7,100,000 to acquire solid waste vehicles on August 4, and separately amended the fiscal year 2027 capital improvement budget to appropriate the same $7,100,000 for the purchase, through what the resolution calls the incurrence of indebtedness by execution of a master equipment lease.

Neither resolution drew a question about the cost of the borrowing. The interest rate was not stated. The term was not stated. The total repayment was not stated. No document setting any of those out was referenced from the floor.

The two items

Item 15 was the financing lease itself, listed on the agenda under Finance and Administration and sponsored by the administration. It authorizes the execution, delivery and performance of a financing lease in an amount not exceeding $7,100,000 relating to the acquisition of various solid waste vehicles, and, in the agenda's language, to approve certain other matters relating thereto. It applies to all council districts.

Item 16 was the budget side, listed under the Division of Solid Waste and also sponsored by the administration. It amends the fiscal year 2027 capital improvement budget by allocating and appropriating $7,100,000 for the purchase of various vehicles and equipment through the incurrence of indebtedness by execution of a master equipment lease.

Councilman JB Smiley Jr., who chairs the Public Works, Solid Waste and General Services Committee, reported committee recommendations on both and moved them.

The one question

Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton stopped item 15 before the vote. She said she had no problem with the vehicles themselves, but wanted to know what the phrase "certain other matters relating thereto" means.

The city's solid waste director came to the microphone. He told the council it was probably a better question for the finance division, but that he believed the wording is there for closing costs and insurance. He described it as all-encompassing language giving the administration the latitude to pay closing costs to the attorneys and the bank related to the transaction.

Councilwoman Cooper-Sutton said she had received a message from someone watching online who wanted to know, and that she wanted the answer on the record to clarify it.

Both resolutions then passed. Neither had any further discussion and neither drew a no vote.

What a lease of this kind does

The structure the council approved is a master equipment lease, a common municipal financing arrangement in which a lender or leasing company funds the equipment purchase and the city repays over a term. The city takes delivery of the trucks now and pays for them over years.

What the record of this meeting establishes is the ceiling, $7,100,000, and the purpose, solid waste vehicles and equipment. What it does not establish is the price of the money.

What happens next

Both resolutions passed on August 4. The financing lease is authorized up to $7,100,000 and the FY2027 capital improvement budget has been amended to appropriate that amount. The record does not state when the lease will be executed, when vehicles will be delivered, or when the terms will be reported back to the council.

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