Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — The Jackson City Council is dealing with another cut to the proposed budget since the administration announced it must strip away another $500,000 in expenditures for fiscal-year 2017. And members aren't happy with how Mayor Tony Yarber's administration is sharing information and making belated cuts to the budget.

Sharon Thames, assistant budget manager with the Finance Department, explained to the council at a special meeting Aug. 30 that the new half-million-dollar cut resulted from a drop-off in expected property taxes.

"We got that last Friday," Thames told the council last week. "The preliminary schedule said that it was going to be 1.8 increase; it was only 1.1, so that means about a $500,000 decrease."

The numbers refer to the percentage increase of tax revenue calculated and predicted earlier this year to allow the administration to prepare the proposed budget presented to the council. Since the tax revenue collected by Hinds County did not meet expectations, the City was short $500,000.

The administration makes projections for tax revenue earlier in the fiscal year and adjusts them once the actual numbers roll in. Budget planners projected part of the revenue with the 1.8 percent increase in mind, now leaving them short.

"We have now fixed that in the budget," Thames said. "The budget is now back-balanced. We had a $99,000 savings in the sale of the bonds that we issued, and we are going to take it from citywide fuel, so the budget is back in balance."

Thames said that after those savings, the administration's plan was to cut projected fuel expenditures to meet the required amount, rounding out to $350,000.

Habits Need to Change

Ward 2 Councilman Melvin Priester Jr. asked why the administration had not proposed these cuts during the week-long series of meetings the council recently held to go over each departmental budget line by line—especially if it was so easy to make them now.

"If we had the ability to cut fuel by ($350,000) just like that, why didn't we do that already?" Priester asked. He added during a phone interview on Sept. 1 that the City had already issued termination notices to more than 25 individuals and that more might be on the way.

Thames said that the administration had looked back on the budgeted fuel expenditures for the last three years after the budget meeting on Monday, Aug. 29.

Stamps asked Deputy Chief Administrator Marshand Crisler if the City was going to alter any of its policies to reflect the cuts.

"Because if we are going to cut fuel by $350,000, then there needs to be operational changes to make that happen. Because I don't want to be in July and not have enough fuel for next year," Stamps said, mentioning changes like altering policies about employee use of city vehicles after-hours. "If we are going to move something in the budget and not see a change in operations, it won't make sense." Crisler said he appreciated the council's concerns.

"Anytime you take a position where you have to tighten up your belt, if you will, it requires, certainly, some oversight to make sure that's happening," Crisler said. "I think that we all understand during these difficult times and shortages we have that we are going to have to do some things differently." Crisler did not state any specific "oversight measures," but agreed that habits need to change.

"Again, quite frankly, we are going to have to change our culture."

'Backed Into a Corner'

"The disheartening part for me is if the administration can leave in one afternoon and find $500,000, why didn't you do this three months ago versus cutting Virden Childcare?" Stamps said.

Documents show that the City cut $68,000 from that early-childhood development center.

Vice President and Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon expressed frustration with the way the administration was sharing information with the council.

"I think that we are backed into a corner," Barrett-Simon said, adding that she wants "explicit terms" for the cuts, including which departments would be affected. "I think that's a fair deal, but I am not going to just turn it over. And come back in a few weeks or months and have even worse news. If we've got control over it, then we can do this."

"When you look at the budgetary process, there are some things that you can make very precise predictions for the years ahead," Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote said. "But there are other items that are very hard to predict."

However, Foote echoed Barrett-Simon's concerns.

"The city council has to have all of the information that it can have in a timely manner, and I think that it is terrible for the administration to parcel out information that benefits them but limits the city council from making informed decisions."