MERIDIAN —     It was a tight squeeze, but city officials in Meridian managed to put together a budget that requires no tax increase while providing a 2 percent pay raise for city employees.

    The 2013 budget was finalized Tuesday morning and was the subject of a public hearing Tuesday night. The council will adopt the budget next week.

    It was a long process and council members at one point considered raising the millage rate to compensate for lower property values, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

    Ed Skipper, chief financial officer for the city, said the overall property value assessments that came in lower this year were not as low as they feared.

    Assessed values throughout the entirety of Lauderdale County were down about 2 percent this year, meaning that a mill would bring less this year than it did last year. When Skipper and the city's administration and mayor's office were planning a budget, they did not have the final figures on property values in the city limits. Just in recent days have those figures been available and it showed that property values in the city were down about 1.5 percent.

    "What I had was a general statement basically that assessed values were going to be down so I took the worst case scenario, that assessed values were going to be down 2 1/2 percent," Skipper said "That's what the basis was for the administration's proposed budget from the mayor to the city council."

    When the final figures were available, the drop was not as great as he had expected.

    One of the sticking points in the budgeting process was money for the Public Works Department so the city could do a better job at keeping grass cut at right-of-ways.

    Councilman Bobby Smith is among proponents who pushed for more money for grass cutting.

    "It all worked out to our benefit and to all of the people in Meridian because all the problems we've been having with our streets and our terrible, terrible roads with snake and grass," Smith said. "We've not been able to take care of that and now we're going to insist that it's taken care of because the money is there to do it. What we've got to do is make sure the administration continues to force the issue so this gets done."

    Professional services for Public Works went from $5,000 to $105,000 to pay for private contractors to cut some of the grass on right-of-ways. Public Works will continue to cut some of the grass, as will the Parks and Recreation Department.

    Mayor Cheri Barry said that two years ago the state gave the city more right-of-ways to maintain and that has made it more difficult to keep up with the grass cutting.

    Councilman George Thomas agreed that the city needed to put more money into Public Works and he was happy with the additional funds. Thomas said the city narrowly avoided a tax increase.

    "That difference is what allowed us to not increase taxes," Thomas said. "Overall the budget is OK. We'll still have needs. We'll have things we can't afford to do, but we're better than I thought we would be a week and a half ago."

    During the public comments portion of the hearing, Kevin Locke, representing the Employee Council, said they were grateful for the 2 percent proposed pay raise, but the Employee Council was of the consensus that they should ask for a 5 percent pay raise.

    "You have a lot of good employees and to retain good employees you have to offer good benefits," Locke said.

    After the hearing, Thomas said the city was already having to increase Public Employee Retirement System contributions by about 1.5 percent, along with a 1 percent increase in Social Security contributions. That, he said, along with the 2 percent pay increase, is about a 4 percent overall increase.

    Council members agreed that the budget process this year has been difficult and they credited Skipper with getting it done.

    "During this budget it's been tough for us," said Councilwoman Barbara Henson. "It's been tough for the administration but it shows government at its best. We all worked well together."

    Councilwoman Mary Perry pointed out that the city of Meridian has not had a tax increase for 10 years.

    "It's wonderful to work with people who disagree without being disagreeable," Perry said.

    Councilman Jesse Palmer expressed relief that taxes will not be going up this year.

    "I guess most people don't realize the amount of stress and strain that goes on because you're looking for any way you possibly can to do the budget without having to add additional revenue," Palmer said.

    The city set the millage rates Tuesday evening following the budget hearing. The rate will remain at 50.84, although the Meridian School District's rate will go up slightly by .84, from 60.31 to 61.15. That's due to bond and interest increases. The city, by law, must adopt the school district's budget as presented.

    The Meridian Community College millage rate will remain the same at 7 mills.

    The city's general fund will operate at  $34,105,000.