Columbus has officially crossed the $10 million milestone for yearly sales tax collections for the first time ever.
City Chief Financial Officer Milton Rawle announced the news during a brief meeting Tuesday where the city council approved the 2016-17 budget.
The city received the news with the arrival of September’s sales tax collection figures from the Mississippi Department of Revenue. Columbus received $800,930 this month for sales taxes collected in July. The figure is a record for the month, and brings fiscal year 2015-16’s final total collections to $10.2 million.
“This is awesome for the city of Columbus,” Mayor Robert Smith told The Dispatch. “A lot of people come to Columbus. They’re shopping. They’re here for different events. … It shows that there are a lot of good things taking place in the city of Columbus, and I still say Columbus is a great place to live, work and raise a family.”
The total is about $900,000 more than fiscal year 2014-15’s record $9.3 million in sales tax collections.
Smith said the city’s continued economic growth is exciting.
“I’m just ecstatic,” he said. “It’s always good when you can see growth and improvement, especially from the sales tax standpoint. With any municipality, any mayor will tell you that your sales tax, from a municipality standpoint, is your bread and butter. Without sales tax, you’re limited in what you can do.”
Budget approved
The council approved the city’s $23.26 million balanced budget for fiscal year 2016-17, with equal expenditures and revenues projections.
Fiscal year 2015-16’s budget included a $178,325 deficit, which the city covered by drawing from its general fund reserves.
However, Rawle said that won’t be necessary next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
“Revenues equal expenditures, which means we don’t have to go into the general fund this year,” Rawle said. “That’s a great thing.”
The city set its millage rate last week, which Chief Administrative Officer David Armstrong said is required by law before budget adoption. The city’s property tax rate will remain 43.69 mills. Columbus Municipal School District’s millage rate will also hold steady at 61.39, as will the overall millage rate of 105.08 mills.
After the meeting, Smith said he’s pleased with how the city’s budget process worked out this year. In previous years, the council has held several meetings where department heads present their wants for the fiscal year. The “wish lists” from departments usually balloon the budget well past what the city can reasonably pay, and councilmen spend several meetings whittling the budget down to an acceptable level.
This year, the city presented department heads with an allocation for the departments, and let them form their budget to remain within their budget.
“They (department heads) were very pleased, the council was very pleased, and I was very pleased,” Smith said. “That will be the process we use for the next year.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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