County commissioners were presented with a $1.4 billion budget proposal for a new jail during a Budget Committee presentation from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office for its fiscal year 2026 forecast on Wednesday, April 23.
The high-end figure is based on revenue that would have been generated by a failed state sales tax proposal. It would also significantly alter the Harris administration’s budget calculus.
“This $1.4 billion figure is the worst-case scenario. We are waiting on the jail master study plan,” said SCSO Chief Administrative Officer Alicia Lindsey.
County lawmakers are currently searching for a way to pay for a new facility after the Tennessee House State and Local Government Committee shot down the proposed tax with a 7-13-1 vote on April 16.
“It just befuddles me how they didn’t allow us to have the freedom, the citizens of Shelby County … to choose how we fund our jail,” said Commissioner Amber Mills. “I still have not really comprehended what we witnessed up there.”
Mills made several trips to Nashville to lobby state lawmakers for funding for a new jail. Despite the defeat, a new jail remains the top priority for the sheriff’s office.
However, construction costs are significantly higher than the estimate the sheriff’s office provided to Nashville lawmakers April 8. That figure was between $800 million and $1 billion.
Rising prices from tariffs are to blame for the inflated amount. A study into a new jail is expected to be completed by May 6. If the new number stands, a replacement for the lockup at 201 Poplar would run $229 million annually for “x-amount” of years.
“We need a path forward,” said Lindsey.
The current path is considered “unsustainable.” More than $16 million was spent on repairs to the jail this year. The biggest slice of the pie, $6.7 million, went toward new jail doors. The old sliding doors were easily tampered with, allowing inmates to prevent them from being closed, creating a hazardous environment for jailers and inmates alike.
A retrofit to inmate showers, along with repairs to elevators, escalators and baseboards, were also funded. New kitchen equipment and touchscreen panels accounted for further costs.
Nevertheless, the 40-year-old facility is still considered structurally outdated and operationally inefficient to current needs. More than 2,600 inmates reside at the facility.
SCSO notes maintenance of effort requirements, blasts salary restrictions
The budget discussion also allowed the SCSO to revive its simmering dispute with the administration over the latter’s use of “vacancy savings,” or “salary restrictions,” to balance annual budgets.
According to the sheriff’s office, the practice conflicts with a state-mandated “maintenance of effort,” which requires a certain amount of funding for the department to be maintained. In past years, money earmarked for unfilled positions in the SCSO was used by the administration to balance annual budgets.
But the dollar amount has also ballooned in recent years. In 2025, the total was $44 million, compared to the $6 million to $7 million set aside in 2006. According to Bonner, the past three fiscal years add up to more than $100 million in salary restrictions.
“In Shelby County, we have had a history of budgeting for vacancy savings as a result of the significant number of positions that go unfilled year after year, after year, after year,” said Shelby County Budget Director Michael Thompson.
Critics of the methodology accuse its practitioners of “defunding the police.” Both Mills and Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. used the politically charged phrase to describe the accounting practice during the meeting.
“To hear words, and I don’t want to hear those words come out of my mouth, but they start with a D, F and P … It appalls me that that rhetoric is stated when I present numbers that tell the facts and support a different perspective,” said Thompson.
The county’s budget director said the restrictions, or vacancy savings, are a common practice of local, state and federal governments. Moreover, it is a practice used throughout the Shelby County administration, from the mayor down to its smallest office. It is also recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association.
“The GFOA encourages every government to consider these forecasting procedures during budget season to have an accurate expenditure projection for what will actually be spent on payroll,” said Thompson.
He recommended critics attend the upcoming GFOA conference in July to brush up on available resources “necessary to understanding your responsibilities when it comes to establishing a sound budget with accurate projections.”
The term “salary restrictions” will also be scrubbed from official county documents.
“When we talk about salary restrictions, that is a misnomer. Salary restriction is a term we will remove from our literature inside of Shelby County as a result of the false statements made concerning its application in people’s budgets,” said Thompson.
With a complement of 1,547, the SCSO is far below its 2,156 payroll number budgeted. In fact, to fill all positions, commissioners would have to raid the existing fund balance or raise taxes. Recruiting and training to close the gap in manpower would likely take years, with retention being another matter.
Thompson also pointed out wiggle room left in the current SCSO budget. With three months remaining in the FY2025 calendar, the department has run $3 million under original estimates.
“Nine months into the fiscal year, they have not spent, or we can say they saved, $47.3 million; exceeding their budgeted vacancy savings amount by $3 million. That is $3 million that is in their budget that can be used for whatever needs may arise for public safety,” said Thompson.
