With one side speaking out against a tax increase and the other saying one is necessary to maintain city services, the Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday night rejected three different budget options for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
In the end, the board scheduled another meeting for Aug. 23 at the city”s Sportsplex to study additional budget options. Aldermen have until Sept. 15 to pass a budget and hope to get it done at their Sept. 7 meeting.
Last year, aldermen made up for an approximately $1 million budget shortfall without an ad valorem tax increase by implementing a hiring freeze and cutting other spending wherever possible. With a gloomy economic forecast for the coming year, a tax increase might be necessary, although the board is split on whether or not to do it.
One budget option discussed Tuesday included an ad valorem tax increase of more than 1.5 mills, which would generate an additional $280,000 in revenue. Another option included reductions in outside contributions to entities like the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, the Starkville Public Library, the Starkville Boys and Girls Club and other organizations.
Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins vowed to vote against any budget which includes a tax increase or outside contributions, including the $70,000 the city typically contributes to the Mississippi Horse Park.
“There are a lot of people in my ward and throughout the city that just cannot afford this tax increase,” Perkins said.
“I am not going to vote for any budget this year that has a tax increase,” he added later. “I am not going to vote for any budget this year that has any outside contributions.”
On the other side were Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, who serves as chairman of the city”s budget committee, and Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas. Both said they would have a hard time voting in favor of a budget which eliminates contributions to the Humane Society, Starkville Public Library and other entities. A lack of city funds would “drastically impact operations” at those organizations, Dumas said.
Dumas and Sistrunk voted together throughout the night.
The tax increase option would pay to begin staffing and equipping one shift at newly constructed Fire Station 5, located at the corner of Reed Road and Highway 25, add new personnel in the IT and building departments and combine the city”s Sanitation and Public Services departments into an Environmental Services division, among other things. The option also included a 1 percent pay raise for city employees.
A tax increase would be necessary for the city to move forward with the new initiatives, and it would add $75,000 to the city”s ending fund balance, which is hovering at $230,000 — a drop of more than $2.1 million since 2007, when it was approximately $2.5 million, Sistrunk said.
“I know it”s not a popular option,” Sistrunk said of a possible tax increase, “but this is a question of what do we want to be as a community.”
The remaining five aldermen voted against the tax increase. Sistrunk then recommended the city pursue a second option, which included the creation of an Environmental Services division and a $2.50 increase in sanitation fees, but no tax increase.
Sistrunk, Dumas and Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker voted in favor of this option, but it failed when Perkins, Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn Sr. were opposed.
A third option considered by aldermen included a millage increase to bring in an additional $280,000, but excluded the Environmental Services division. It also would have increased the city”s contingency fund from $50,000 to $65,000, among other things.
Carver, Sistrunk and Corey voted in favor of the third option, but it was rejected when Parker, Dumas, Perkins and Vaughn voted against it.
Vaughn, meanwhile, said he would not vote for a tax increase because he doesn”t believe the increased revenue would be distributed evenly throughout the city. Aldermen in recent years have pushed for the construction of a multi-use path along Lynn Lane, but a drainage ditch along Carver Drive on the north side of the city has been neglected by previous boards for more than 20 years, despite residents” complaints, Vaughn said.
Dumas, however, countered, saying the city is in the middle of massive improvements to Reed and Hospital roads, both located on the north side of the city. Dumas then challenged Vaughn to give other examples of neglect in wards 6 and 7, but Vaughn couldn”t.
“I don”t have to explain that,” Vaughn said. “You can see it with your own eyes.”
Dumas warned that, with the city”s projected low ending fund balance — the city”s bond attorneys have recommended an ending balance of at least $750,000 to $800,000, if not more, based on the city”s total assessed value –the board might be inhibited when it comes time to pursue bonds for projects such as a municipal complex.
“We”re fixing to lose … our ability to borrow,” Dumas said.
Corey, serving his second term as Ward 4 alderman, said he wouldn”t vote for a tax increase because he is worried city residents might vote against a bond issue for a new municipal complex if they also face a tax increase.
“It”s just not the right time (for a tax increase),” Corey said.
The Aug. 23 aldermen meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public. The Sportsplex is located at 405 Lynn Lane.
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