Jackson Free Press

Several Jackson City Council members disagree with Mayor Frank Melton's recent assessment that the city budget is in wonderful financial shape. Melton said at a February press conference, and repeated in recent Jackson Free Press interviews, that the budget is in "the best fi nancial shape" it's ever been in, which prompted raised eyebrows after the city announced days later that it was calling for a 3-percent cutback in all departments. The mayor then blamed sliding sales revenue and demanded that all unfilled positions be frozen. He also asked department heads to cut back on overtime pay, travel and office supplies.

Council members, like Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler, who is running against Melton in the Democratic primary for mayor, said he could not hold the budget cuts against the mayor. "It's going to be painful to many of the departments, and many services could be affected, but with the economy like it is, I can't be too critical of the administration. None of us expected the economy going down like it is," Crisler said.

Melton's claims to the JFP about the amount of money in the city's reserves—$8 million—was actually off by about $300,000, according to City Administration Director Rick Hill. Hill said the reserve fund was $8.3 million. Melton also claimed the amount was about $3 million above the state-mandated requirement of $5 million. The required amount is actually $7.5 million.

Crisler was quick to attribute the healthy reserve fund to the council rather than the mayor, who had pushed for problematic employee pay raises and summer programs throughout 2008 and 2009.

Last June, Melton inserted into the council agenda a request for the council to sign off on a $600,000 diversion from the city's reserve fund and a budget transfer of another $600,000 from a line of credit for debris removal to fund a summer youth program. The council voted the request down with a 3-to-3 vote, with Crisler siding with members against the request.

"Any responsible decision in that regard should be attributed to the council more than the administration because we're holding the line trying to make sure we're staying within our budget," Crisler said.

Melton complained to the JFP that the council had repeatedly voted down pay raises, though Crisler said Melton had not properly accounted for the raises in the budget. Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill pointed out that the administration had been willing to consider an employee pay raise as recently as March, even after announcing the 3-percent cuts.

"We hear the budget is the best ever, and then we hear two weeks later about falling sales tax receipts, but then a week later they submit a request for a $2-an-hour city employee pay raise," Weill said.

The raises had been stewing quietly in committee for months, but after hearing the administration's willingness to pursue them, a council majority did not allow the item out of committee.

The council is also continuing its investigation of administration pay records. Melton had ordered Hill not to deliver to the council employee tax forms, including 1099 and W-2 forms, and threatened to fire any employee who privately slipped the public information to council members.

Melton said his reason for refusing the request was to protect sensitive employee information, such as Social Security numbers. However, he forwarded the information—complete with sensitive information un-redacted and visible—after the council threatened legal action.