Jackson Free Press

Jackson Mayor Frank Melton rode a "no new taxes" bandwagon into the office that he took over July 4. "I'm not going to burden you with more taxes. I'm just not going to do it," Melton told a crowd of supporters at a campaign rally prior to the Democratic primaries.

"We can make this city better, and we can do it without adding more burden onto the taxpayers who elected me," then-Mayor Melton told a crowd of hundreds at a recent neighborhood meeting at Trinity Presbyterian Church in North Jackson.

Melton's fiscally conservative philosophy rang a sour note against the recommendations of his own budget team at the city council's Aug. 16 meeting, however. Facing a rise in utility costs, escalating health insurance rates, environmental fines, a proposed city holding facility and other costs, Melton's budget called for a one mill increase in property taxes, "about $5 a year for a $50,000 home and $10 a year for a $100,000 home, to be dedicated strictly to public safety," according to a Aug. 15 statement from Melton to council members. "… [n]ot too much to pay for more secure neighborhoods and places of business," the statement from Melton read.

The mayor's statement defended the call for sacrifice. "Politicians often proclaim goals and give lip service to them without asking or demanding that the necessary resources ... be committed to achieve them. This is empty rhetoric, and I will not play that game. I assure you we will work to manage the monies wisely, spending these dollars as if they were out of our own pocket."

The council's move to consider the tax hike was stifled the next day, though, by an ardent opponent of raising taxes—none other than Melton himself, who then charged that the city must find other ways to fund itself rather than a tax increase.

Denying that the city government was operating effectively and efficiently, Melton sent council members a note last Tuesday asking them to look at cutting $1 million from the budget rather than raising taxes for the equivalent amount, which he had asked for the day before.

"nstead of an increase in taxes, are there opportunities to cut $1 million from operating expenses?" Melton asked then.

City Policy and Administration Director Peyton Prospere, who had submitted the budget with its tax increase the day before, did not offer a reaction to the mayor's latest turnabout. He did say, however, that the mayor's office was laboring to resubmit new budget figures to the council.

"We're working with these departmental budgets, revising them. We're looking to have some more numbers by the end of the week," Prospere said on Aug. 22.

Ward 1 Councilman Ben Allen called the budget proposal and subsequent withdrawal an "error in judgment" made "out of innocence."

"I don't see how it could be bad communication when we're sitting there looking at a memo that says he completely supports this tax increase, and then he comes to the council meeting the next day and says, 'I don't support it,'" Allen said.

Former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said the volatility of gas prices, along with other costs, would make staving off a tax hike difficult, even if the city were not trying to build and staff its own holding facility, which can run up millions of dollars in cost.

"It's going to really be an interesting story unfolding if there's not going to be a tax increase. About 65 percent of the General Fund budget is personnel. If you're going to save a million dollars here and there, you're going to have to let some people go," said Johnson, who already described the city's staff as "barebones."

Johnson said his administration systematically studied the budget and adopted initiatives to avoid a $20 million budget deficit—which already cut potential fat out of the budget—and stave off a tax increase. "We cut 100 positions in the last two years," Johnson said. "We had to really do some belt tightening, and I just don't think there's any fat there."

Council President Marshand Crisler said the council would go back and "re-look at the possibilities of staff cuts."

"I know there're some things that we might can cut here and there and piece together and come up with this million dollars. There are areas, other than the police department and public works, that we're looking at," Crisler said.

"We're waiting for Melton to get back with us and let us know what kind of direction he's looking to go in. Every week I'm expecting to hear from him, so I'm hoping he does it pretty soon."

Previous Comments

ID

64717

Comment

Frank's a cowboy, not a mayor!!!

Author

maad

Date

2005-08-25T09:09:05-06:00