Another Way Cities Get Screwed

It is now accepted wisdom that federal highway funding has been a major subsidy to sprawl.  But sometimes the subsidies are so insidious that they go unrecognized for years, even by those who pay the bills. 

This is the case today in Memphis where taxpayers there pay once for City schools and again for County schools.  The problem is that no incorporated suburban town in the county does the same.  So while Memphis taxpayers pay twice for schools, taxpayers in Germantown or Bartlett pay only once, thereby creating a real penalty for living in Memphis.  (And with the racial politics in Memphis, the last thing Shelby County politicians want is to merge the school systems.  Too many white county residents fled the city to get away from an African-American dominated City school system.  It's complicated.  But this is what regionalism or the metro nation can look like on the ground when reality enters the picture.)

New Memphis City Council members finally realized what was going on and put a stop to it -- until a judge said no.  No, he ruled, you can't reduce spending on schools from the previous year -- in what must be the dumbest decision ever.

Our colleague Tom Jones has been following this story on his blog Smart City Memphis.  It is always a real pleasure to read and explains the urban condition that extends far beyond his own city.

  

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