Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Comptroller topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Shelby County officials outline fixes after state comptroller declines to approve FY2026 budget
Summary
County leaders told the Budget & Finance Committee they added staff and resubmitted budget materials after the Tennessee comptroller refused to approve Shelby County's FY2026 budget; administration and finance said steps are underway to ensure the FY2027 submission meets the comptroller's requirements.
Shelby County Chief Administrative Officer Harold Collins told the Budget & Finance Committee on Oct. 22 that the county is taking immediate steps after the state comptroller declined to approve the county’s FY2026 budget. Collins read excerpts from Chief Financial Officer Audrey Tipton describing problems tied to an Oracle conversion and multiple rebalancing efforts, and said the administration has added personnel to the budget team and resubmitted materials while preparing to follow the comptroller’s guidance for FY2027.
The comptroller’s decision followed technical and timing challenges tied to the county’s Oracle conversion, multiple late changes to the proposed budget and a state decision to not approve the certified tax rate, Collins said as he read the CFO’s summary. “The Oracle conversion commenced July 2024…The trustee and assessor had to modify their numbers. This completely unraveled the proposed budget,” he read from the CFO’s excerpt and told commissioners the administration is correcting the process going forward.
Deputy Director of Finance Danielle Schonbaum told the committee that finance is reviewing first-quarter results but noted the limits of early-year comparisons. She cautioned that the county’s property taxes are highly seasonal — “the bulk of the county’s property taxes come in between December and February” — and that some August variances reflect timing and FY25 cleanups rather than long-term trends.
Finance and the administration said they have taken personnel and process steps to reduce future risk. Collins said staff additions to the Budget & Finance team were effective immediately and that the CAO’s office has disciplined personnel and instituted oversight changes. He also said the administration will work with the comptroller’s office to submit a draft and follow the controller’s recommended review steps to reduce the chance of future rejections.
Several commissioners pressed for more detail on what went wrong and how the county will prevent it in the future. Commissioner Ford characterized the budget failures as systemic and called for policy changes that would survive turnover in personnel. Schonbaum said finance must be allowed time to reconcile and validate revenue projections and that the office cannot recommend budget actions it has not fully reviewed.
Next steps: the administration said it will continue aligning finance and line departments, provide clearer documentation and submit a draft FY2027 budget for pre-review with the comptroller. The committee recorded a favorable recommendation to transmit the monthly financial update to the full commission and scheduled follow-up work on policy and interagency communication.
