Memphis city contracts and city tax breaks should go to companies that employ Memphians. Stop sending Memphis tax dollars out of state.

Right now, our tax dollars support other cities and states. We need to stop giving Memphis city tax dollars to out of state bottom-feeders.

Over the past few years the City of Memphis has seen a substantial amount of new and renovation construction to help revitalize the City, and yet the City still struggles with providing jobs and opportunities to its citizens.  

Currently, many major construction projects have been commissioned with tax dollars and there are plans to spend more, but where does that money go once construction is complete.  

The City has many programs in place such as Contractors Assistance Program (CAP) to assist small, minority and women contractors in becoming stronger competitors in the local construction industry, or the Grow Memphis Fund, but these programs don't help to fend off out of state competitors.  

Construction companies from other states have been allowed to bid construction work paid for by Memphis tax dollars. They are able to out bid local business because they come a lower cost of living areas, and use out of state employees to perform the work. Some of these companies lease a small office space in our City to portray themselves as a local business.  

Please join me in letting Mayor Strickland know we need to do a better job of making sure our tax dollars are being used to pay citizen of Memphis to grow our City.