Tennessee lawmakers wasted money this year on the National Civil Rights Museum, the Memphis Zoo, lunches for the Memphis City Council, Pre-K, and more, according a new report on government spending.
Those are some of the findings (and opinions) from the Nashville based research organization, The Beacon Center. The group issued its 2016 Tennessee Pork Report Tuesday. The report takes aim at “wasteful government spending” all across the state and it certainly has plenty to say about spending in Memphis.
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• Pre-Kindergarten
The report says state lawmakers “pour millions of dollars” into Pre-K programs, though “not a single study has shown that children who participate in Pre-K have any lasting benefits or advantages over children who don’t.”
The report cited a recent Vanderbilt University study showing that “some students are worse off for participating in Pre-K.”
However, Tennessee lawmakers expanded Pre-K programs in Memphis and Nashville, “bringing up last year’s total of $91 million to a $100 million investment for the program this fiscal year.”
• Memphis Zoo
The state budget includes $1 million for the state’s four largest zoos and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, the report said, and “each will receive a $200,000 handout courtesy of state taxpayers.”
“The Nashville and Memphis zoos have been mum about what they plan to do with their new taxpayers dollars,” the report said. “We’re waiting on the edge of our seats.”
• National Civil Rights Museum
The report’s authors gave the NCRM it’s propers, calling it a “treasured part of Memphis” one that has “an important historical role in the fight for justice in our country.”
Still, it had one major hang-up for the ‘$300,000 per year handout” the report said the museum gets every year.
“Imagine that you live in rural East Tennessee and want to make the trek to Memphis to visit the museum,” the report said. “You will need to spend about $100 to fuel up your car for the roughly 12-hour round trip, drop at least $200 on a two-night stay at a hotel, buy multiple meals at restaurants, and still shell out another $15 per adult and $12 for each child to even get into the museum.”
The report authors note that they have long urged state lawmakers “to stop propping up museum with taxpayer money,” especially given that “most taxpayers will never get to visit those museums.”
[pullquote-1] • City council lunches
The report took aim at the lunches the Memphis City Council will eat and the trips they will take this year, all on the taxpayer dime. The reports writers called it “tomfoolery.”
This year, council approved $8,000 per year for catered lunches just for council members and council staff, the report said. This was up from the $3,500 for lunches from the year before, according to the study.
Also, council members approved $65,000 on trips this year, “up an astounding 300 percent over the previous year.”
“Apparently council members don’t plan to use any of that money to travel to Nashville to lobby state legislators,” the report said. “Instead, the council set aside an additional $100,000 to hire a part-time state lobbyist and one other staff position. With spending like this, it’s Memphis taxpayers who may end up going hungry.”
