STARKVILLE – With a $1.3 million shortfall in revenue projected for the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget, aldermen are weighing how to close the gap without raising property taxes by nearly 10%.
Board members left a Friday work session with a preliminary budget requiring a 2.36-mill increase instead to generate about $786,367. The increase, if approved, would raise the city’s tax rate 7.3% to 34.36 mills. It would add $23.60 per $100,000 of value to homeowner tax bills.
That budget includes about $396,000 in targeted employee raises, an increase to the minimum wage and a strategy for reallocating unscheduled overtime costs.
Left on the cutting-room floor are increases in contributions made to outside organizations, like Boys and Girls Club and the Mississippi Horse Park. The preliminary budget also includes financing a bulldozer instead of purchasing it and reducing the allocation for a new civil defense siren.
Ward 2 Alderwoman and budget chair Sandra Sistrunk said employee raises would target three areas: employees earning below 95% of the market mean, positions that are difficult to fill and retain and skilled labor roles that are difficult to fill. Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch that would primarily include police, fire and engineering roles, which she said are most vulnerable to being sought after by other employers.
“The idea is that recruitment and retention is important and it’s cost effective because (if) you’re forever training people, you lose productivity,” Sistrunk told The Dispatch. “… So we’re targeting those areas … that we know are problematic.”
The preliminary budget proposal also includes increasing the city’s minimum wage, which Sistrunk said affects about 20 employees in City Hall, from $16.75 an hour to $17.50.
Together, those adjustments would add about $328,000 to the general fund. If the board chooses to approve additional raises to entry-level roles in the police department that are generally hard to fill, it would add another $68,000 to the general fund.
Grant for fire station
When discussing the shortfall during an Aug. 8 special-call meeting, the board weighed whether to withdraw the city’s application for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to staff Fire Station 5. The city should know whether it was selected for the grant by Sept. 30.
Requiring a 25% match from the city, the $821,099 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant would cover the salaries and benefits to hire 12 firefighters over three years, excluding additional costs like turnout gear and training. After three years, the city would be responsible for either maintaining the positions or letting them go.
Instead of withdrawing the grant application, Ward 1 Alderwoman Kim Moreland on Friday suggested instead shifting the roughly $253,000 allocated for unscheduled overtime to cover the city’s required match.
Currently, Starkville firefighters work 48-hour shifts with 96 hours off, Moreland told The Dispatch.
“We have to run so many firemen out of Station 1,” she said. “In order to do that, we have not promoted. So our unscheduled overtime is sky high because we’re having to get captains, lieutenants and sergeants to fill those positions.”
If the city is awarded the grant, Moreland suggested hiring only six firefighters with the funding rather than 12. With six additional firefighters to add to the current 54, Fire Chief Dewayne Davis said the department could have 18 on shift at all times, with two firefighters off, eliminating the need for unscheduled overtime.
That would, however, require the department to ensure no one is called in for unscheduled overtime, Sistrunk said. The plan would also still have the city on the hook to fund the new positions in three years.
“Right now it doesn’t cost us so much, but yeah, year three, it starts to bite,” Sistrunk said. “In year four, it’s a big ole honking amount.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
