The Trustee's final quarterly report set records for collections and investment income. Asked what fiscal year 2027 assumes for that income, the Trustee said her office does not forecast it and finance said it did not know the number.
MEMPHIS, August 19, 2026 - Shelby County's investment portfolio returned $49.9 million in interest in fiscal year 2026, which Trustee Regina Morrison Newman told commissioners is an all-time high in recorded history. The county's property tax collection rate also set a record.
The figures came in the Trustee's fourth quarter report for the year ending June 30, 2026, received and filed by Committee 13, Audit, on a five to nothing vote.
The records
The Trustee reported a collection rate of 97.69 percent on 2025 taxes as of June 30, which she described as a new record, and said the real estate tax collection rate of 97.7 percent also appears to be a record. She said every category was slightly higher this year after a period of trending slightly down.
Total receipts came in at 101.5 percent of forecast, which she put at about $16 million above projection, with nearly every category of county revenue at or slightly above forecast. Sales tax was up slightly. The portfolio yield was 3.81 percent, which she said again beat the state's portfolio.
Her office collected $22 million in delinquent property taxes in the fourth quarter, exceeding the goal in the forecast by 20 percent, and exceeded anticipated trustee commissions and fees for the year by $1.6 million, money she said was part of what was used in the budget.
The question with no answer
Commissioner Michael Whaley, the committee chairman, asked what the fiscal year 2027 forecast is for investment revenue.
The Trustee said her office does not produce that forecast, that finance forecasts the elected official fee line. Commissioner Whaley then put the question to the deputy director of administration and finance, who said he did not know the interest revenue forecast for fiscal year 2027.
The exchange left the record with a confirmed $49.9 million of actual investment income in the year just closed and no stated assumption for the year the county is currently operating in.
The rest of the report
The Trustee described several operational items. Her office launched a disaster recovery site near the assessor's office at Mullins Station so tax collection and county accounting can continue if the downtown building is unreachable. It completed testing of new payment kiosks, with three to be rolled out in the fall for tax season and funds budgeted for three more. It redesigned the tax bill website, including functionality to redact certain names of law enforcement personnel and people under protective orders while their bills, addresses and taxes still display.
In the fourth quarter the office processed 916 wheel tax rebate applications, which she contrasted with roughly 2,500 in a full year before commissioners approved a sliding income scale. It sent 9,954 citizen applications to the state for tax relief, some still under state review, and received 7,159 tax freeze applications. The office also coordinated with county information technology to decommission multiple legacy Windows servers.
She reported that clients of the Financial Empowerment Center have paid off almost $9.5 million in non-mortgage debt and put roughly $590,000 into savings, while the average client income continues to decrease rather than increase.
On the $125 million the county borrowed
Commissioner Britney Thornton asked when incoming tax collections would let the county access funds to repay the borrowing it approved to cover payroll.
The Trustee said the county receives roughly $50 million a month, rising toward December, when mortgage companies pay the realty taxes they handle and the county takes in about $350 million. She cautioned that the $350 million is not all general fund money and would not by itself cover the $125 million alongside the county's other expenses. She said finance anticipates repayment by March, since roughly 95 percent of the year's property tax money arrives by the end of February, and that she believes there should not be an issue repaying it.
The deputy director of administration and finance added that the county has up to $125 million available to borrow and that it does not mean the county will borrow the full amount.
What happens next
The full Commission received and filed the report on the consent agenda on Monday, August 24, 2026, on 12 aye votes, without discussion. At the same meeting the Commission adopted a resolution honoring Trustee Newman, which noted that her office has undergone annual audits with no findings. Finance told the committee it expects to bring preliminary fiscal year 2026 financials to the second committee meeting in September, with the audit not final until it concludes and a goal of completing it by the end of December.
