Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris presented a $1.6 billion FY2027 budget proposal to Shelby County Commissioners on May 13, 2026, including a $0.03 reduction in the property tax rate. The proposed rate of $2.66 would follow the current $2.69 rate set after county-wide reappraisals conducted in early 2025.

"This budget continues a conservative approach to expending while ensuring we make maximum impact. In other words, this budget is lean and mean," Harris said. The FY2026 budget totaled $1.7 billion.

Commissioners must approve a recapture rate of $2.663814 before setting a final property tax rate, a figure the state comptroller's office requires in budget submissions. The county trustee's office is updating its software to accept property tax increments of one cent.

The FY2026 budget proposal was initially refused due to an incomplete submission that lacked detailed line-item budgets and had negative fund balances, and was submitted on June 17, two weeks before the state approval deadline. "I think part of that is making sure we turn in the line item representation of our budget earlier to the state and make it available for feedback. That process is ongoing," he said.

The proposal includes funding for a new K-8 school to replace Treadwell Elementary in Northeast Memphis, with an initial outlay of $11.9 million. New high schools for Cordova and Frayser are currently under construction.

The budget also includes funding for a new Regional One health campus and an additional $5.4 million in indigent care funding, bringing the total to $29.4 million. Part of that funding will support a new Shelbycares access point in Raleigh. The proposal introduces basic health insurance for temporary county employees under a program called Temp Care.

The budget requests $207 million to fund 2,444 positions in the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, up from $179.9 million for 2,018 employees in FY2026, along with an additional $110,000 for officer training. The proposal also funds a new mental health facility to divert jail detainees experiencing a mental health crisis or substance abuse, a new Youth and Family Resource Center, and transportation for youth detainees between youth court and detention facilities.

Commissioners will receive hard copies of the FY2027 budget proposal by May 15, 2026, and the document could be made available online before that date.