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← Back to Shelby County, Tennessee: Election on 2026-08-06

Contest for County Trustee

County
general - Partisan - County Trustee

About this office

The Shelby County Trustee serves as the county's banker and as its billing-and-collection agent for property taxes. The Trustee bills and collects property taxes for the county and for smaller municipalities that contract for the service (Arlington, Lakeland, Millington), settles collections by the tenth of each month, invests county funds, and administers tax-relief programs for senior, disabled, and veteran property owners. Duties are set by the Tennessee Constitution and state law; the office is limited to two consecutive four-year terms.

Term length: 4 years.

This role calls for

  • Financial trustworthiness: the Trustee is the county's banker and custodian of tax revenue, handling several hundred million dollars of property-tax collections annually for Shelby County.
  • Working knowledge of Tennessee property-tax law, including tax-relief programs for seniors, disabled residents, and veterans, plus the city/county dual collection structure for Memphis-area taxpayers.
  • Investment and cash-management competence for county funds under state-law constraints.
  • Monthly settlement and reporting discipline (collections settle by the 10th of each month).
  • Accessible customer service for taxpayers paying bills, disputing assessments, or seeking relief; ability to administer a large, partly-online operation.

Derived from the office's statutory duties and operational reality. Candidate summaries below map each candidate's documented experience to these requirements.

Campaigns

Joseph Lee, III

Joseph Lee, III

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No campaign summary available.
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