Starkville aldermen will consider three measures this evening to limit the impact of the sales tax revenue shortfall that Mayor Lynn Spruill said will inevitably come from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Spruill shared her three suggestions with the board of aldermen at its Friday work session, which was held via teleconference. The measures are suspending pay raises the board approved for some city employees in September, a hiring freeze with the exceptions of two critical jobs and a suspension of all travel and equipment purchases except for ongoing projects. Each measure will last 60 days but could be extended with a later vote.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that we’re going to have a severe drop in our sales tax revenue,” Spruill said. “How severe, we don’t know yet, and part of what we control is not our revenue but our costs, so this is a first step as far as I’m concerned.”

The board might have to take more steps at its April 21 meeting, and one option is reducing city employees’ workweek to 32 hours, Spruill said.

The board will revisit the hiring freeze and suspension of travel and equipment purchases at its June 2 meeting, and the pay raises would be suspended through the pay period ending June 18. The raises are for specific city jobs, such as utility linemen, police and firefighters, that pay below the salary rate in similar or equivalent markets, according to a study the city authorized last year.

Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough and utilities general manager Terry Kemp said the delayed pay raises will not be a problem for their departments in the short term. The utilities department has a few open entry-level jobs but can complete both routine and emergency maintenance without filling them, Kemp said.

“I think we can manage without sacrificing service for the next two or three months,” he said.

The fire department had two recent departures and was going to fill one of the job openings on Tuesday but took the new hire off the meeting agenda, something the department has never done before, Yarbrough said.

“Those (open) slots could affect us a little bit, could cause a little bit more overtime, but from the standpoint of having enough personnel, there are too many health risks,” he said. “We understand what the city has to do, so we’re going to make adjustments the best we can to make sure the city’s still fully covered.”

The Starkville Police Department reached full staffing capacity just before the pandemic started, Chief Mark Ballard said, and the department understands the city’s reasons for possibly suspending pay raises. The biggest challenge for a police department during a pandemic is to maintain a strong presence in the community while taking measures to protect itself from the virus, he said.

“It’s something that demands a lot of networking and research, and every day you come in with a new plan,” Ballard said.

The two exemptions to the proposed hiring freeze are the Parks and Recreation executive director and a water treatment operator. Spruill and Kemp both said a new water treatment operator is “essential and critical,” especially since the city only has one at the moment

Gerry Logan stepped down from the parks director position March 30 after nearly a year and nine months in the position. David D’Aquilla, a member of the design team for Cornerstone Park, is serving as the interim director.

Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk said she hopes the federal government will indicate any upcoming aid for small cities by the April 21 board meeting. Congress passed a $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package last month that provides funding for large cities, large businesses and small businesses, as well as improved unemployment benefits, but does not designate any funds specifically for small cities.

“By the 21st, hopefully we’ll have a better feel for if there are going to be relief measures out there beyond the things that we can control right now, like these cost-saving measures,” Sistrunk said.

Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.

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