Residents of Starkville could soon face a tax increase.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen Monday voted 4-3 to instruct the city clerk”s office to compose a 2010-2011 fiscal year budget which includes a .45-mill tax increase. For the owner of a $100,000 home, the increase from 19.55 mills to 20 mills equals an extra $15 per year; for a $150,000 home, it equates to about $22.50 per year; the owner of a $200,000 home can expect to pay another $30 per year; $250,000 homeowners can expect to pay an additional $37.50 per year; and owners of homes worth $300,000 can expect to pay an additional $45 per year.
The board will hold a public hearing Sept. 7 to discuss the proposed budget and are expected to vote on it later that night during their regularly scheduled meeting.
The millage increase will help balance the city”s budget, fund one shift at newly constructed Fire Station 5, reorganize city departments to form an environmental services division and continue outside contributions to local organizations like the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, the Starkville Boys and Girls Club, the Starkville Public Library and the Mississippi Horse Park, among others.
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver voted in favor of the budget proposal Monday, along with Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey and Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas. Only Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker, Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn Sr. voted against the proposal.
Sistrunk, who serves as chairman of the city”s budget committee, said she was pleased the board finally agreed on a proposal for the city clerk”s office, which will work between now and Sept. 7 compose an official budget for consideration.
“Truthfully, there are only two ways to provide the city services we want to provide,” Sistrunk said. “We increase revenues or we cut expenses, and if we cut expenses, we cut services. If we want to improve city services … a revenue increase is the way to do that.”
Additionally, the city wouldn”t be able to staff and operate Fire Station 5, which was built at Reed Road and the Highway 25 bypass with more than $900,000 in federal stimulus funds, without a millage increase, Carver said.
“If we do not approve a millage increase, the fact of the matter is the fire department”s doors will not open,” Carver said.
“That fire station is a critical component of public safety and economic growth on that side of town, particularly the bypass,” Sistrunk added.
While Parker said he voted against the budget proposal because he was against a tax increase, Vaughn said he didn”t like all the extra “junk” it included, like the hiring of an IT Department employee, a second city planner and a building inspector.
“I wasn”t voting nay for the (outside contributions),” Vaughn said. “It was for all this junk we”re talking about.”
Perkins, meanwhile, vowed to vote against any budget proposal that includes a tax increase or outside contributions.
“This is just more tax and spend,” Perkins said. “If we cut out a lot of taxing and spending, we can balance the budget.”
Perkins also was upset because he didn”t see the budget proposal, which was composed largely by Sistrunk, with input from the mayor and other aldermen, until he arrived at the meeting. He, too, is a member of the budget committee and was not pleased at what he called Sistrunk”s role as “a one-person budget committee.”
“This is no way to handle the taxpayers” money,” Perkins said.
Perkins” vow to vote against any outside contributions at the Board of Aldermen”s Aug. 17 meeting drew roughly two dozen community members to Monday”s meeting at the city”s Sportsplex, from Starkville High School students to representatives of the Starkville Public Library to Jon Maynard of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. More than a half-dozen people spoke and all urged the board not to cut outside contributions, while a handful also spoke in favor of a tax increase.
Sarah Sepaugh, a home-schooled high school senior, presented aldermen with a petition signed by 728 people who were opposed to Perkins” vision of cutting funding to the Starkville Public Library. Sepaugh and 15 to 20 other area teenagers walked around Mississippi State University Saturday afternoon to collect the signatures, she said.
Not only does the library supply books, computers and other resources for the public, it also helps teenagers meet people and stay out of trouble, Sepaugh said. After the meeting, Sepaugh was thrilled to see aldermen vote in favor of a budget proposal which includes outside contributions to the library and other entities.
“I”m very grateful,” she said. “I know I met a lot of friends through the library that I wouldn”t have met. It”s a great way for people to meet other people their age.”
She also touted the benefits of computers and other technology for citizens who might not have those resources at home.
“It”s a way to get education and fun all at once,” Sepaugh said.
Corey, the second-term alderman from Ward 4, said Aug. 17 he would not vote for a tax increase because he didn”t think Starkville residents would approve a bond issue for a new municipal complex if they also faced a tax increase. But after studying the city”s finances closely since the meeting earlier this month, he realized a tax increase would be necessary for Starkville to function.
“Our year-to-year expenses necessitated the need to go ahead and fully fund those needs through a millage increase, albeit a slight one,” Corey said. “That doesn”t mean we don”t need to move forward on the municipal complex. It”s just, our daily and yearly budgetary needs were more pressing. We do still need to invest in our municipal complex, but we also need to be able to pay our yearly bills.”
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 33 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 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
