Proposed millage increase to cover $400,000 in operational expenses

A preliminary budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020 was presented Friday at the Board of Aldermen regular work session that would see a 1.5 mill increase on Starkville's property tax.

While the budget is in no way final and will not have a public hearing before Aldermen until Aug. 20, the increase is proposed to pay for increased operations around the city.

Notably, the change, which would see Starkville's millage rate move from 26.63 to 28.13, is intended to add roughly $400,000 to the budget for the police and fire departments as well as to cover an increase in city employees' pay and other equipment costs across departments.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, the board's budget chairman, said it was important to note that none of the numbers presented Friday were set in stone.

"The budget is a spending plan, and that's all it is," Sistrunk said.

The proposed tax increase would cost residents $22.50 annually per

$150,000 of property value, according to Sistrunk's report. For residents over 65, the cost would be closer to $6 per year.

Property tax collections currently make up roughly 35% of the city's budget. After a relatively slow period of growth from 20172018, property tax value saw a roughly $230,000 increase since last year.

Sistrunk said the trend of growth along with a steadily increasing sales tax was a good sign for the city's economic development.

"They have grown each year, which would be an indication that our business environment is strong," Sistrunk said.

The police and IT departments requested funds to purchase more security cameras and the software required to use them, which Sistrunk quickly pointed out is not designed to collect citizen's data. The requested amount was $118,000.

"It's not facial recognition software," Sistrunk said.

Mayor Lynn Spruill, along with Sistrunk, argued that spending money on the IT department now in order to keep the city's defenses from hackers up was vital, noting the state of Louisiana recently declared a state of emergency in response to hackers attacking three of its school districts.

Sistrunk said the cost of maintaining security for the city vastly outweighed the costs of having to shut the city down, even if the shutdown was relatively short.

When asked about a $500,000 decrease in collections from traffic fines and tickets over the last several years, Police Chief Frank Nichols said a shortage of officers was the main reason for less tickets being written.

Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said he did not believe the decrease was not negatively impacting the safety of the public, which he said was his number one concern for the police department.

The Starkville Fire Department also had a request to be considered in the budget totaling $110,000. Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough requested that the city work to improve city's fire rating from a four to a three.

Doing so would involve fully staffing Fire Station Five and promote some existing personnel to fill required positions for the improved rating.

A better fire rating would lower the insurance premiums for residents and businesses alike in the city. For residents, Sistrunk predicted they would pay 1-5% less, but commercial properties would pay up to 10% less, with restaurants potentially paying even less than that.

Sistrunk reviewed the fire department's new contract with Mississippi State University Friday. The contract, beginning next year, will see MSU increase payments to the city for fire protection each year, up to $650,000 in four years.

Increasing employee wages was also cited as reason for the proposed tax increase. One goal of the wages bump is to have all full-time employees at $12 an hour. The wage increase is projected to $105,000 and aimed at benefitting employees lowest on the wages scale.

According to Sistrunk's report, police and fire department employees would be the most heavily affected by the increase.

Carver said he did not like the idea of raising taxes, especially after Aldermen increased them last year, saying he preferred "stable budgets."

Sistrunk and Spruill noted the increases in the previous years were to cover construction costs for larger projects, such as the police station, whereas the costs this year were operational in nature.

In regard to the timeliness of the matter, Spruill said she wanted to use this year's budget to improve on institutions already in place in the city rather than adding new ones.

"I also think this would be the year we would say we dedicate to the employees, to the fire department and the things that are needed to bring the employees up to the minimum standard," Spruill said.

Though initially hesitant, Carver agreed with making the changes, though he continued voicing his concern that some other solution was being overlooked.

"There's got to be a way to balance it with what we've got," Carver said.

Aldermen are expected to call for a public hearing regarding the budget plan on Aug. 6. The public hearing is expected to be held Aug. 20.

The city must have a budget set by Sep. 15 at the latest.