Meridian Council focuses on public safety in proposed budget

Published 5:32 pm Thursday, September 15, 2016

With one more meeting scheduled at 9 a.m. Friday morning to finalize details of the 2017 budget, the Meridian City Council is preparing to vote Tuesday on an approximately $8-$9 million budget that includes funds for higher salaries for police and firefighters and retains money for infrastructure improvements.

Taxes are anticipated to remain level with with a tax levy of 50.84 mills per thousand for a revenue of about $16,286,192, according to Meridian Chief Financial Officer David Whitaker. That is the same millage rate since 2009. It’s broken down into about $9,500,000 in the general fund, about $57,000 for solid waste, about $2.5 million for pensions and about $4.2 million for debt service.

Starting police officers are paid $11.82 per hour currently and the proposed 2017 budget would increase that to $15 per hour. Raises, which are proposed only for detectives and lower ranks, are expected to increase the budget by $335,811. Those with more service would also see pay increases.

“I feel pretty good about the budget,” Council President Kim Houston said. “We’re moving some money around into the legislative account so we can be good stewards of the taxpayer money. The administration will still have access to it, but this is just a way to make sure that we accomplish all the things we want to accomplish in this new fiscal year.”

Houston said she welcomed pay raises for public safety.

“I’m excited about the proposed pay raises so that we can better recruit, retain and serve the people of Meridian,” Houston said.

Ward 5 City Councilman Randy Hammon offered insight into the body’s thinking.

The council factored in the salary increase for detectives and below in the department in the budget, which went up to approximately $8-$9 million, Hammon said. Starting pay for police officers in Meridian is far below similar cities in the region.

“We’re using revenue from expected sources like the lease program for city vehicles to fund the raises,” Hammon said. “There is no tax increase. The council has increased what it agreed to and no more increases regarding all departments.”

Hammon said the budget is about $55 million for water and sewer and another $38 million for general government, including all city departments.

“Every time we get a budget, it’s $1 million to $2 million over what we reasonably expect to receive,” Hammon said. “That said, we try to make the cuts where they don’t hurt the basic infrastructure of the city. If we didn’t do this, the cleaning up of our infrastructure and the paving of our road program would not have been possible.”

Hammon said funding for those programs hasn’t always been available.

“In 2013, the money wasn’t there for all that stuff until we started being fiscally responsible,” Hammon said. “In 2016, we’d put stuff aside and when we needed it, we’d do a budget amendment. This year, the basic salaries for police and fire will be brought up to other cities’ standards, but we did not fund monies put into administrative and higher paid personnel,” Hammon said.

The downtown brick paver was one of the projects cut, according to Hammon. He said that was a savings of more than $500,000.

“There were also a number of considerations for contracts with different groups, but keep in mind we already have prior commitments, one of which is to update the 911system,” Hammon said. “My priority – and I believe it’s the council’s priority – is getting things done that affect all taxpayers, like roads and streets and infrastructure. We always have a number of people that represent small interest groups, which is fine, but we have to keep the big picture in mind. Our hope in addressing our infrastructure, road system and codes and ordinances is to make our city look attractive to prospective businesses. Without the council’s attention to the budget, the infrastructure and road program would not have happened.”

The Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience is expected to begin construction in about two weeks on Front Street. Hammon said that will be a big boost for the city.

“That is a $45 million project. That is a big business we got this year. The state paid $25 million in bonds, while our price tag is $20 million,” Hammon said.

Hammon said the council is not prepared yet to take on a proposed branch of the Mississippi Children’s Museum. Proponents with the museum requested $1 million donations from both the city and the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisions. Museum officials project the total project will cost $12 million. Museum officials have identified Bonita Lakes as a potential site.

“We’re not ready to address the Children’s Museum this year or the site. We need other options for the site,” Hammon said.

Hammon said the public seems to think the council has the ability to wave a magic wand and make everything better.

“The biggest things this year was salaries. A lot of people seem to think we can fix all these problems in three years that have existed for 15 years,” Hammon said. “We have fixed a lot of them. We did the minimum wage to $9 for city employees, did the Velma Young Community Center Project, cost of living raises for police and fire. They got $2,500-$3,500 raises just last year. People’s expectation is for us to take something that was bad and reverse it quickly.”

Hammon said the council is simply doing what it can.

“We’re trying to do the best we can with the budget we have,” Hammon said.