Myron Lowery, Memphis City Council’s vice chair, said the Council did not vote to authorize Wade to file Tuesday’s lawsuit. Lowery said he could not say who gave the okay.
“You have to ask our attorney about that,” Lowery said. “He evidently got figures from the city treasury.
Wade filed suit seeking $152 million, plus interest, of the $217 million MCS reportedly owes in debt-service bonds taken out for the school district.
MCS has paid only $68 million, the suit says. In the suit, Wade said the money includes bond issues for $100 million for schools and $25 million for air conditioning.
Councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware said she too had no prior knowledge of the suit.
“I feel even if it was warranted, there should have been some discussion,” she said.
The action makes the Council appear hypocritical, Ware said, noting that Supt. Kriner Cash appeared before the Council’s education committee on Tuesday while the suit apparently was being filed.
“I’m appalled,” she said. “I am just taken aback at this kind of action. I would think that if you file a lawsuit to collect a debt that you would make an effort to collect it.”
Lowery said talks between the city, county and state are ongoing.
“We don’t want the public to be alarmed,” he said. “We want everyone to know that everything is going to work out alright. Our children will not suffer. Schools will open on time and everything is going to be just fine.”
MCS filed a lawsuit in June against the City Council to recoup $63.2 million in operating funds. But the school board now finds itself at the other end of the legal spectrum as a defendant.
School board president Tomeka Hart said the board wasn’t given the courtesy that a suit was being filed. “I found out about it when someone from the news media called me,” she said.
When MCS filed its suit against the council, Hart said Council members were aware that it wasn’t just for the money and that it was to determine the responsible party for school funding.
“We gave them the courtesy of letting them know that we were filing a suit,” Hart said. “I made personal calls to some council members.”
As a lawyer, Hart said when her client owes money, “I inform them. I try to collect payment on that money before I sue. We never got that kind of correspondence.”
The suit was filed out of vindictiveness, Hart contends. “He (the council attorney) said since you sued us we’re going after everything. That saddens me.”
The $152 million is questionable, the commissioner said. “We don’t see where we owe that kind of money. When Councilman (Bill) Morrison’s resolution to approve an 18 cents property tax reduction passed, it included $20 million in allocations, another $7 million, and $15 million in debt reduction. I don’t know how it went from $15 million to $152 million.
“The citizens expect us to work together. It’s not the Council’s money or the school board’s money. Basically citizens are suing citizens.”
The scenario is further exacerbated by the state of Tennessee’s vow to withhold its $423 million allocation, if $66.2 million for MCS isn’t restored by the Oct. 1 deadline.
The state says the Council would violate the state’s “maintenance of effort” law if funding isn’t restored to the level of the previous year unless enrollment drops.
“We don’t know what that is (maintenance of effort). So the only way to resolve this is to go to court,” Hart said.
An element of the budget battle between the Council and MCS will be played out in Shelby County Chancery Court on Thursday during arguments before Chancellor Kenny Armstrong.