Shelby County Commissioners Voted to Write Into Law a Requirement That the Administration Give Them Financial Details. The Finance Director Told Them to Show Up First.

MEMPHIS, July 27, 2026 - Commissioner Erika Sugarmon has spent four years asking Shelby County's administration for detailed financial information and, by her account, not getting it. On Monday she asked the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to make it law.

The ordinance adds a new section 2-19, financial reports, to the county code. It passed first reading 11 to 0. It requires three readings.

"This just puts in writing as a law and ordinance what our function is according to the charter," Sugarmon said. "Hopefully going forward when we ask for details, we will receive details, because again this fiscal year budget we did not receive it as requested."

The administration's answer

Commissioner Brandon Morrison asked the administration to respond, noting that the commission does receive quarterly reports.

Director of Administration and Finance Audrey Tipton said she was surprised at the request. The administration presents monthly general fund reports and quarterly reports, she said, and the budget book contains line item budgeting. She said she was not sure what the request is asking for and would be happy to provide it if it were explained further.

Sugarmon gave an example. When the commission asked the Shelby County Election Commission for detailed staffing information, how many employees, what the makeup is, how many are temporary, the answers did not come. She called it a pivotal moment. She said the election commission's budget is now set at $9 million even in a year with no election, and that the county has six maintenance of effort obligations that commissioners were never told about by anyone.

Tipton acknowledged part of it. On a quarterly basis the county provides a summation of salaries and expenditures per department, she said. Detailed specifics like employee counts require a lot of work, and the county has spent the past year transitioning to a new accounting system, so time has been short to produce that level of answer.

Her recommendation was that commissioners ask their questions throughout the year rather than during budget season, when the same questions are harder to answer while a budget is being assembled.

Then she went further.

"When we present on a monthly basis and a quarterly basis, we would like to see more than four commissioners sitting in the gallery to hear it," she said, "and then you could possibly get some of the answers that you're looking for right now."

She added that it is the mayor's prerogative to decide how to present a proposed budget, and that whether commissioners receive the budget book at the same time as the mayor's presentation will be up to whoever the next mayor is.

Commissioner Charlie A. Caswell Jr. said he has not seen the body receive the book at the same time as the mayor's presentation in the last three to four years, and that without it, commissioners are pushed closer to a deadline before they can ask anything.

The school budget nobody has

The discussion then produced a second problem, larger than the first.

Commissioner Mick Wright asked whether the administration plans to bring the school district's budget to the commission. Tipton said no, that the schools bring their own budget, and that what the administration presents is the maintenance of effort amount the county allocates. She said she believed the schools had already presented.

Wright said he has not seen a resolution for a school budget.

Budget Committee Chairman Michael Whaley clarified the process. The district presents a preliminary budget in May. It does not submit a final budget until after the county approves its own. He said that should have meant Monday's meeting, because the district had a meeting scheduled right after the commission's, and that his understanding is the district's next meeting is not until the following day. Presenting a budget in concept, he said, is not good enough, because the district has to match the capital allocation the county approves.

Wright then connected it to the comptroller.

Last year, he said, the commission approved a budget and heard back from the comptroller that component parts and addendums the body never saw were out of compliance with what the state requires. Not having the school budget at all, which he said is required by law 45 days before adoption, compounds it.

"It falls on us," he said, "and at least the headlines are going to say that Shelby County doesn't know up from down because it's not able to approve a budget that the state can accept."

He said the sponsor has asked nicely, firmly and in many different ways, and that the budget chairman has brought resolutions to the same effect. He said he does not know how commissioners can do their jobs without these measures, and that he did not accept being told that unless he attends every committee meeting he should not expect information.

Chairwoman Shante K. Avant closed the item by putting on the record that the commission will follow up with the administration and correspond with the district for clarity on next steps.

What happens next

The ordinance goes to second reading and requires a third before final passage. The commission's term ends this summer. Chairwoman Avant committed on the record to following up with both the administration and the school district on the budget question.