When it comes to unmet needs in city departments, anything, apparently, is on the table. Including the American Rescue Plan Act funding.
According to Chief Financial Officer James Brigham, his office received about $1.6 million in unfunded requests during the Fiscal Year 2024 budget process, and the city is expecting between $300,000 and $500,000 in unobligated funds that can safely be spent. Those funds make up the majority of the budget surplus the city is projecting for the fiscal year.
Tuesday night department heads made their cases for a piece of that pie, sparking a discussion about a planned $200,000 rainy day fund that eventually segued into a suggestion to break the ARPA piggy bank.
Several city departments need new pickups, and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones suggested using the rainy day fund to buy the trucks now, instead of holding that money in reserve.
“We know we need the trucks,” Jones said. “Why not (use the $200,000) to buy them now instead of saving it for something that might come up?”
Brigham opposed the idea, citing a laundry list of projects that are on the city’s radar already that may have unanticipated costs, including repairing the pedestrian bridge and installing new roofs at the Municipal Complex and its adjacent strip mall.
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart suggested using some of the city’s approximately $3 million in ARPA funding to address at least some of the outstanding needs.
That money is earmarked for addressing watershed issues within the city and has been approved for $3 million in matching funds from the state. The council has already approved remediation projects in the area surrounding Columbus Brick, as well as an area near Mississippi University for Women.
“We’ve had this (drainage) problem for 100 years,” Stewart declared. “… What good does (watershed) do if you don’t have anything to run the city?”
Brigham said the council is “within its rights” to rescind the watershed work and spend the money in other ways.
Mayor Keith Gaskin pushed back.
“The state has matched that one for one (for watershed work), and if we buy trucks with it, it’s gone,” Gaskin said. “You don’t get a match. … This is an opportunity for the city to double its money to deal with a long-term issue.”
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene agreed with Stewart, noting the ARPA money “could be used a whole lot more wisely” than on watershed.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones had something else on his mind: raises. He floated the idea of a 3% across-the-board raise for all city employees.
Brigham said raises “were not on the request sheet.”
He estimated the cost at $300,000, and he discouraged using ARPA money to fund recurring expenses such as a raise.
“If you were going to use ARPA funds, I recommend for one-time purchases or capital items,” Brigham said. “If you use it for salaries, that’s something you have to maintain over the years.”
New positions, maintenance
The council also heard a request from Trotter Convention Center Director Rogena Bonner to hire a full-time assistant. Bonner said she is one of the few department heads without an assistant, and that had caused problems when she was recently out of the office for medical reasons.
She asked to make an existing part-time employee full-time at a salary of about $42,000.
While two new positions — a grant writer and a city planner, at a combined cost of about $174,000 — are already in the budget, Gaskin said Bonner’s request was not.
Among other requests, Information Technology Director Maia Thompson requested an additional $100,000 for upgrades and support for city software, and Crime Lab Director Claudette Gilman asked for about $115,000. That includes service contracts for her three gas chromatography-mass spectrometry units, which run $11,000-$12,000 each, as well as upgrades to the evidence system, among other things.
In November the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors agreed to buy a GCMS for the crime lab to speed up drug testing, which had a waiting list stretching to about two years. A month later the council bought a second new machine.
The council has until Sept. 15 to approve the FY 2024 budget. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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