MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mayor Willie Herenton says it's no big deal that he sold a house to an aide after giving her a hefty pay raise.
"There was nothing in my judgment inappropriate about that real estate sale," Herenton said.
Five months after getting a $20,000-a-year pay raise, Tonia Jackson bought a $75,000 house from the mayor.
"I have been a friend of the Jackson family for over 40 years," Herenton said when asked about the sale by The Commercial Appeal of Memphis.
Jackson recently was given expanded duties as an administrative assistant in the mayor's office and a 49 percent pay raise that brought her annual salary to $61,500.
Last month, Jackson bought a small house Herenton built on a plot of land he owns for real estate development.
Herenton said Jackson did not need the raise to qualify for a house loan.
"This is a little bitty darn house that if you made $35,000 you'd qualify for," he said.
