Friday, May 13, 2016

Jackson + budget deficit = meat cleaver

Mayor Tony Yarber and the Jackson City Council held a spirited discussion over the budget and reserve fund yesterday.   Interim Director of Administration Michelle Battee-Day told the council that the city was forced to use the reserve fund to balance the budget last year and this year. However, an ordinance requires the city to maintain a reserve fund that is 7.5% of the budget. The repeated dipping into the reserve fund will reduce the balance to only $1.3 million later this year when it should be $9 million. 





Ms. Day told the council that the city was forced to use part of the reserve fund for the fund balance.  The reserve fund last year was deficient $4.187 million (The reserve fund itself was not empty but was $4.187 below the required amount of $9.178 million.).  The budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year had a beginning reserve fund balance of  $4.991 million.  More spending of the reserve is anticipated.  

 Mayor Yarber said the council was informed of these transfers and approved of them.  However, Councilman Melvin Priester strongly disagreed with the Mayor and claimed it agreed to a budget with a proper 7.5% reserve fund and not one that was deficient.  Mayor Yarber said if the council had made the hard decisions on past budgets it would "have made us unelectable."

Councilman Ashby Foote pointed out that property tax collections were 8% higher than a year ago.  However, it appears some of this increase is due to reassessed values on homes over $100,000.

Ms. Day made several recommendations about fixing the budget problems in a memo posted below:

a.The city’s proposed financial plan included the establishment of a budget stabilization fund which will provide a mechanism by which funds which exceed budget needs (including the required fund balance) may be set aside.
b.The city must re-define our core services. The provision of these core services should be our primary focus as we continue to rebuild our reserves. The city has historically provided services that extend beyond public safety, water and wastewater and infrastructure (streets & bridges) management. Our citizens have benefited tremendously from these services but the cost of providing them has begun to drain the city of much needed resources; which has affected our ability to provide our core services.
c.The city must continue to explore, create and implement additional revenue streams. (i.e. parking meters, explore ways to monetize the city’s assets, explore private management of certain city facilities)
d.The hiring of all non-essential personnel should be suspended.
e.All non-emergency overtime and overtime not previously approved by the department director should be suspended.
f.Requests for non-emergency purchases and travel should be suspended.
g.Reduce funding provided to outside agencies.
h.Discontinue the youth employment and the summer enrichment programs until the city has rebuilt our reserve.
Kingfish note:  So here we are.  All parties bear responsibility for this mess.  They kicked the can down the road.  They tried to please everyone by using furloughs instead of laying off people and instead pleased no one.  Now they are discussing doing what should have been done last year.  Ostriches indeed.




26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually see this year's mess as a positive. We actually have decent leadership (not great, decent) for the first time in a long time, and it's time to get some things right. Make the hard yet necessary cuts, figure out the water/sewer debacle, and move forward using the 1% money correctly to cure some infrastructure woes.

Now I await the deluge of comments telling me that Jackson is a shit hole and beyond saving. That may be true, but best of luck to the people trying to fix this mess. A strong Jackson can only help the entire metro area.

Anonymous said...

Somehow the answer to all of Jackson's money problems includes "parking meters"

Anonymous said...

Jesus Christ, please help Jackson!! Isn't that right Tony? The only way to fix this is to allow each ward to collect it's own property tax, and provide it's own services. Smaller piles of money are easy to count and account than large, unmanageable assets. Too big...will surely fail. This is not going to end well, and I fear the city will only see raising taxes as the only solution. If that happens, the productive citizens of Jackson will have no choice other than to bail. Then, the city is left with even more unproductive (tax generators) citizens, who will drain us further. We'll be right back where we are today 5 years from now, with even worse infrastructure. Please GOD, help these people see that smaller is better, and more manageable. Property values will rise, services will be provided, and people will stay, and some may even return.

Anonymous said...

Has everyone forgotten that many of the thugs in Jackson has their own set of keys for the parking meters?

Anonymous said...

There needs to be a significant RIF (reduction in force, aka layoffs) in city personnel. I don't know why city leaders view this as such a poison pill. It's not. Layoffs happen all.the.time. Sure, there will be some crying and teeth gnashing for a few weeks. Then everyone will get over it and move on.

Employees are always one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, expenses incurred. Jackson's population is declining significantly, and the city workforce should mirror that reduction.

Reducing the city's payroll is where the real savings will be found.

Anonymous said...

2:05, which dept. leader do you think will be the first to fire their family members?

Anonymous said...

@12:38, The city doesn't collect property taxes, the county does it for them. And please don't say that the city could do it cheaper, there ain't no way especially when they can't even collect water revenue which is infinitely less complicated than ad-valorem. Come to think of it, perhaps they should get the county to do their water billing for them. Metro government looking better all the time.

Anonymous said...

its all about personnel costs. Must layoff in Administration first, not fire police public works etc.

Anonymous said...

There needs to be a significant RIF (reduction in force, aka layoffs) in city personnel. I don't know why city leaders view this as such a poison pill.

If you don't understand why then you need to get the hell off the internet.

Anonymous said...

Jackson offers nothing to "metro government".

Anonymous said...

Jackson will dry up and blow away before the administration gives up their bird nest on the ground.

Anonymous said...

Not one penny to the Zoo. Sell the golf courses. Not another penny to JATRAN, JATRAN must run 100% on any available Fed dollars and fares. Sell Thalia Mara. Shutter or sell Davis Planetarium.

What's Your PIN Number? said...

4:43 - I don't understand it either. If you DO, please explain it. A well-structured, defensible Reduction in Force is in order. How can that not be understood and accepted? It's baffling.

City leaders know full well that would throw hundreds of black folk out of a nice PERS retirement. And, after all, it's all about jobs and owning a piece of the pie. The thousands of people occupying city jobs has nothing to do with functions being carried out or services being offered. It's all about holding down a position in the system and the benefits that follow.

Anonymous said...

All parties may bear some responsibility, but the mayor deserves the brunt because of these two facts: the changes to the budget -- versus what was actually approved -- and the furloughs all come from the mayor's office. City Council had nothing to do with that, just like it won't be able to stop the summer youth program cancellation.

Anonymous said...

Where is Kennuf Stokes at?

Anonymous said...

This is very very funny stuff. The best was this comment by Yarber- Mayor Yarber said if the council had made the hard decisions on past budgets it would "have made us unelectable."

To quote Rverend Wright, "the chickens have come home to roost"

Anonymous said...

I hear they asked the Chinese to buy Jackson, then Japan, and finally Mexico. No takers.

Anonymous said...

I assume Stokes is caring for his wife?

Comp Time Logs Are Public Records said...

"e.All non-emergency overtime and overtime not previously approved by the department director should be suspended."

"Suspended"? In the private sector, people who take it upon themselves to work unapproved overtime are typically fired after one warning letter to the file.

And if a department head is allowing the practice to continue, unaddressed, then he should be fired as well.

How difficult to understand is this concept?

And the same must apply to comp-time, which is allowed in the public sector. If an investigation were to take place, you'd find thousands of cumulative comp-time hours logged by supervisory and upper management staff. This practice was running wild in the old Game and Fish Commission years ago and cost the agency millions to stop.

Anonymous said...

Its hard to budget downward.

Jackson is shell of itself but maintains a geographic area of its former self.

How do you tell entire subdivisions that you are going to let the streets go back to gravel? That you are bot including them in planning for future water use?

That takes leaders....or a state lead emergency manager.

Bankruptcy will dictate the next steps....these fools havent the will or intellect to face reality.

Anonymous said...

Jackson will continue along the same lines as they have for many years. They will continue to elect the same crooked politicians. These crooked politicians will continue to hire their unqualified family and friends just like they always have. The same contractors will pay the crooked politicians under the table for contracts they will not finish.

Anonymous said...

"Sell Tharia Mara."

That place actually makes money for the City, so no.

Anonymous said...

Even more reason to sell it 4:07 while it is making money. Sell high.

Anonymous said...

5:20, that is not the Jackson way. Keep it until it falls apart is the plan. You know up keep isn't in the plan.

Anonymous said...

Can't collect water bills or pave streets but wants to run an airport. Blames everything on "white flight" and the PERCEPTION of crime.

Learn to crawl before you can run. Good luck Jacktown, The City with Soul!

What a joke.

Anonymous said...

9:47, white flight is the only excuse the elected officials have left. It does seem to work for them but a person would wonder how long it will keep their people under their thumb. There has to be a few with common sense and can count.



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