Thursday, 11 November, 2008
A proposed law that would put new restrictions on payday lenders, check-cashing businesses and fast payday loans establishments can operate in Shelby County still has a few political issues to clear. One issue could be surmounted Tuesday; the Memphis City Council’s final meeting of 2008.
The council already approved its version of the measure regulating those financial businesses on a third and final reading last week. The Shelby County Board of Commissioners OK its version of the same, which is a joint city county ordinance, earlier this week but it added something new. The language in the council’s version of the ordinance banned those businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of each other. The county commissioners approved that language but added a new requirement that fringe lenders cannot be within 1,320 feet or one quarter of a mile, of a residential district.
The two versions have got to match, since the proposed law is a joint ordinance that would tweak the zoning code for the entire county. The matter will go for approval to the County Commission one more time on a third and final reading this month.
The City Council, however, already passed its third and final reading of the ordinance. That suggests one or more things will happen if the council intends to keep on shaping the ordinance.
The minutes of the council’s previous meeting will be approved Tuesday, after which the council would not reconsider any of the items voted on during the last meeting. The standard practice of the council is its members don’t consider an action to be official until the minutes of a particular meeting are approved by the body.
So one way to reconcile the ordinances would be for a council member Tuesday to vote to take the payday and payday loans zoning ordinance off of the minutes before the group approves the minutes and then to tweak the language.
If the council does nothing and lets its earlier action stand, the onus would be on the County Commission to match the council’s language.
Commissioners this week voiced some of the same tentative concerns with the proposed ordinance that were aired during the City Council meeting earlier this month. Those concerns include whether the focus should be on the businesses’ location instead of the often exorbitant interest rates they charge on the short-term loans they extend to customers.
Commissioner Wyatt Bunker cautioned that putting tighter regulation on the businesses and effectively cutting off the industry’s growth in Shelby County could have the effect of leading existing businesses and lenders to increase the rates they charge customers.
Source: memphisdailynews.com
