The Meridian City Council on Friday approved a budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The $47,037,311 budget will not result in a tax increase, with millage remaining the same as the previous fiscal year at 53.84 mills.

Ahead of the new budget year, council members moved funding for several large projects under the legislative special projects budget as they work to finalize plans on how to move forward. Included in the transferred funds is money for raises, police camera purchases, unfilled positions and grass cutting.

Councilman George Thomas said roughly $1 million was included in the 2024 budget for employee raises. He proposed giving all hourly, overtime eligible city employees a $1,000 raise, as well as an additional $1,000 for hourly, overtime eligible police officers.

The council moved to legislative $275,100 from street maintenance and $518,957 from the police department, which had already been set aside for raises within the two departments.

Pay raises are also needed at the city’s fresh and waste water treatment facilities, Thomas said. Workers with the proper certifications to operate the facilities are in high demand, and the city cannot afford to lose its employees to another community.

City Attorney Will Simmons said utility operators at the city’s water treatment plans are similar to a doctor at the emergency room. Without a doctor to run it, an emergency room is forced to close. If the city does not have certified staff to run its facilities, those facilities will have to be shut down.

Thomas also proposed holding $1.4 million allocated to Meridian Police Department for a new camera system under the legislative special projects fund until more information can be gathered about how the system will benefit the police department. MPD currently has a camera system it leases through an agreement with Mississippi Power, but the network has fallen far short of expectations.

The proposed camera system would include six new positions in the police department for individuals to monitor the cameras around the clock. Prior to spending $1.4 million and hiring six new people, Thomas said he wanted to see some proof the cameras would help.

“I want to see evidence from somewhere that they work in law enforcement,” he said.

Finally, Thomas proposed holding onto $760,000 earmarked for cutting grass on the interstate interchanges until the council could receive requests for proposals quoting costs. The council and public works have previously discussed contracting out the interchange grass cutting, and this will be the first time the option has been explored.

Thomas said he wasn’t opposed to contracting the work out, but he wanted to see how much it would cost before committing funds toward the work.

Councilman Joe Norwood Jr. said he agreed with Thomas’ changes to the budget and also wanted to move money from unfilled billets in the general fund to the legislative budget and keep $425,000 designated for contributions unallocated until the council can decide how to divide it up.

Thomas said he wanted residents to understand the council’s changes were not adding or taking away from the total budget and would not impact what they pay in taxes.

“None of this will change the millage rate,” he said.

Council members also voted to rescind a previous order earmarking $1.2 million from the city’s 2023 budget for paving in the 2024 budget. Ed Skipper, who serves as administrative assistant to the mayor, said each year’s budget is separate, and earmarking funds from one budget for the next wasn’t possible. If the council wanted to set aside $1.2 million for paving, he said, it would need to find $1.2 million it could cut from other parts of the budget.

Norwood said he was okay with rescinding the order to get the budget passed before the Oct. 1 deadline. As the council works through the cameras, raises and contributions, and gets a better idea of costs, it can revisit the issue of paving.