Ellington

Jackson Chief Financial Officer Peyton Prospere painted a bleak picture for Jackson at the April 6 budget meeting.

"The adopted budget for '05, in virtually every major category of revenue, fell short in actual terms of the budgeted amounts, and that means that when we come to prepare our budget for '06, we're working with a much smaller margin than would be comfortable," Prospere said, explaining to the council that the city is projected to be almost $3 million short of funds this year if large cuts are not made in the budget.

Post-Katrina Blues

The city's expenditures on utilities soared in the face of Hurricane Katrina regarding gas and fuel. Fuel prices had already been creeping up in the last seven years, Prospere said, but recent costs of $1,794,784 exceeded the $1,415,201 projections made late last year.

"We anticipate a rise in our utility costs of about $1 million—a 21 percent increase in that budget, based on our usage through the first four months, beginning January," Prospere said, adding that the city projected that utilities would cost $1,006,000 for the rest of the year, along with $379,000 in increased fuel costs.

The Jackson Redevelopment Authority was budgeted for $340,879 in security and utility bills for buildings such as Union Station in downtown Jackson, but the actual cost has run to $877,681. The city's golf courses, initially projected to cost the city nothing, have run up a bill of about $500,000.

"We are looking at alternative management of our golf courses to reduce the amount of subsidy, but that has not happened yet, so we'll go ahead and budget for annual subsidy," Prospere said. The city also was forced to spend another $500,000 for a bucket truck for the Jackson Fire Department.

City projections for retiree health insurance were quite low, with the projected cost of $1,600,000 surpassed by almost $1 million.

City Revenue Falling

Coupled with this are marked shortfalls in city revenues over the last few months. The municipal courts, which were expected to bring in $5,005,806 in fines this year, are now expected to produce only $3,462,259 by September. Likewise, General Property taxes are now expected to bring in $22,016,289, about $200,000 less than originally expected.

Thanks to the advent of satellite television services, the cable franchise fee projection was overestimated by about $400,000. Sign fees, expected to take in $110,000, came up empty-handed, netting $0 since September.

The city received a windfall in revenue increases, grabbing almost $850,000 more than projections. The adopted budget projected $36,275,000, but the revised budget anticipates $37,395,000. The city took in almost 6.3 percent above projections in December and January, but Prospere said he did not expect that trend to continue.

"We don't believe it prudent to project that for the rest of the year. We're likely expecting 2 percent for the next quarter and 1 percent for the fourth quarter," Prospere said. Katrina reimbursement is also projected to add an additional $1,200,000, and delinquent personal tax revenues have been revised to bring in $575,000, as opposed to the original projection of $30,000. Prospere called the revenue "an anomaly and unexpected."

Melton: Hike the Fees

The city is looking at serious shortfalls, and Mayor Frank Melton intends to recoup losses through city job attrition, reining in gasoline and city vehicle usage, and fee hikes.

"We intend to raise the city's garbage collection fee $3 from $15.39 to $18.39 a month. This would generate around $700,000 for this fiscal year and about $1 million for the '07 fiscal year," Prospere said.

The city also expects to collect one-time monies from land sales totalling $1,614,000.

Some council members doubted at a later budget discussion on April 10 whether the council would support fee increases.

"I can't speak for everybody here, but I don't think you've got the votes," Ward 1 Councilman Ben Allen told Prospere.

"It'll be a tough sell with the voters," admitted Council President Marshand Crisler. "But they'll either feel the pinch right now, or feel the pinch later in city services. The problem is, if you don't pay for it, you won't be getting the services. This is going to be a difficult time."

In the meantime, Allen suggested that the fee hikes be made temporary with a sunset provision that would force the city to reconsider other cuts to city spending at the time of expiration.

Rising city costs were not a surprise to the mayor's administration. Melton's budget team predicted in August 2005 that rising fuel costs and escalating health insurance rates would hit the city hard and that the city would need to raise extra money. Melton's initial budget called for a one-mill increase in property taxes, "about $5 a year for a $50,000 home and $10 a year for a $100,000 home, to be dedicated strictly to public safety," according to a Aug. 15 statement submitted with the first proposal to council members, "… [n]ot too much to pay for more secure neighborhoods and places of business."

The council never got to consider the tax hike, though, because the next day, Melton changed his mind, saying the city needed to find other ways to fund itself rather than a tax increase.

Jobs and Services on the Block

Melton attempted to cut costs in February of this year, sending out a memo to department heads demanding that overtime be eliminated and that all department heads cut 5 percent from their budget, with an exception for the police department, which must cut its expenditure by 2.5 percent. Attrition is expected to provide most of those cuts. During the first quarter of 2005, city employees numbered 2,343. Prospere announced that by March of '06, there were only 2,184. Early 2005 wages were $18,435,000, while this quarter, they are only $17,472,000—about a million and a quarter less.

"If we're unable to control overtime, and overtime in the last couple of years has run $2 million in excess of its budgeted amounts ... you can see how quickly our $5.8 million (budget reserve fund) could be drained," Prospere said.

Cuts to city staff are hurting city services, according to some residents.

Jackson resident Diana Barnes-Pate accused Melton of "taking apart the Department of Code Enforcement" in the city, making it easier for property owners to neglect their property.

"We only have six officers to serve the city," Barnes-Pate said, "and some parts of the city are not being served. Six officers can't cover the enforcement of code in this city. Melton should do the math. You can flood South Jackson with 200 officers, and still there would be work to be done."

Sonya Murphy, head organizer for ACORN, a community organization that advocates better housing for low and moderate-income families, called the city's department of city ordinances a "ghost department."

"There's nothing really there. It's only there on paper," she said. "(ACORN) will be pressuring Melton to get the code enforcement office up and running effectively and efficiently. In other cities, they would be out in the community citing homeowners with vehicles on their lawns, fining them for trash and overgrown lawns, for vacant and abandoned buildings. Back in Illinois, each owner of a vacant or abandoned building would be fined $100 to $300 depending on the severity of the infraction. I think we need at least 200 officers, driving through the community, taking note of violations, following the protocol that the city has in place, and if the city doesn't have those protocols in place, then we're here to force the city into a policy change," Murphy said.

The city's police department is also short-handed, according to the recommendations of the Linder-Maple Study, commissioned in 1999. Chief Shirlene Anderson said last week that the department has 485 cops, about 115 short of the 600 officers recommended by the study, and a 15-officer drop from the 500-head count at the time of Melton's arrival in July 2005. The mayor said last year that he would emphasize a smaller force with better pay, though many police officers speaking anonymously say they have not received any raises in months.

"With the cuts to overtime, you can say that there has been a serious pay cut, actually, and the disbanding of some task forces has cut some officer pay as well," said one source in the police department, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

It's About People

The cuts to overtime are having an unwelcome impact on other city employees as well, say some city workers.

Michael Gerald, a parts specialist with the municipal garage, said he and others are often forced to take work home on the weekends and do not expect to get paid for it.

"There's only two people here trying to procure parts for every police and agency car in town, and these vehicles are always aging. The only overtime I would ever get would be to brand the city tires for security purposes. One a month I'd do that, but they cut that out, so now I've got to brand 150 to 200 vehicles during the day, which means my boss is going to try to do the physical handing out of the parts, ordering the parts, finding the purchase order for the parts, in addition to trying to take care of the invoices coming in and getting them prepared to send downtown. It's overwhelming," Gerald said, adding that cutting corners ultimately costs the city more money.

"City employees now wait too long to get their brakes fixed, which wears down the rotors—so what would have cost $10 will now cost about $100 or more," he said. "Also, now that we're short-staffed, we're sending out a lot of work to be fixed by private companies, and they're cheating us. I've got an invoice around here where one company charged the city $40 to replace some wiper blades."

Financial woes have already driven some metro companies to cease doing business with Jackson. Gerald said Landers McLarty Ford and Hyundai, on Highway 80, no longer sells parts or services to the city because the city did not pay its bills on time.

"I've had several dealerships shut me down to where I can't buy from them because the city doesn't pay them," Gerald said. "I'm closed down with Landers McLarty. They got tired of pulling hair. It takes about three months to pay them, though it normally used to be about a month."

Mignon Godbold, who manages the parts department at Landers McLarty, said she could not comment on the company's business with the city.

Former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. warned that getting rid of overtime was going to be a difficult task. "You can manage to reduce overtime, but there are certain positions that will always require it. If there's a waterline break in the middle of the night, you're going to have to do everything possible to fix it, so there are some positions that require overtime, and you won't be able to solve any problems by trying to cut it," Johnson said.

Overtime loss is chipping away at employee morale in some departments and provoking bitterness in others. Nine months into Melton's new career, some employees are already simmering with criticism.

"When Melton was campaigning, he was always promising fair pay and better staffing for city employees," said one anonymous employee. "Almost everything he said was bogus. I don't think he's even had an impact on crime—which was his big thing. My pay hasn't gotten any better, but you can sure bet my gas bills are higher, and right now nobody wants to complain because we're afraid of losing our jobs."

Melton: 'Financially Sound'?

Some council members have also criticized the mayor's administration, saying that at times, Melton has not behaved like the city is in a financial crunch.

"There have been some decisions that I, as council president, did not feel were financially sound," Crisler said.

Last year, Melton decided to refuse a $200,000 annual payment from UMC for the purchase of special fire department equipment needed to handle irregular fires at the hospital, much to some council members' dismay. Melton also fired lobbyist John Waits, of Winston & Strawn, a K Street lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., who facilitated more than $111 million in funding for the city over the last 10 years, including money used to purchase the Mobile Command Center often parked on Melton's private property in North Jackson. Months ago, Ward 2 Councilman Leslie McLemore lamented the loss of Winston & Strawn, noting that the firm had brought in $13 million by the end of federal FY 2006 appropriations bills.

"The city will regret this," McLemore predicted. "This is going to hurt us bad."

Melton replaced the $72,000-a-year contract with Winston & Strawn with a $70,000-a-year assistant, Marcus Ward, who has made very few trips to Washington. Melton has since made Ward chief of staff, essentially ending the city's lucrative lobbying efforts.

One disgruntled city employee even submitted purchase receipts to the Jackson Free Press that detailed several city purchases, suggesting that Melton—who said last year that he needed only "a telephone and a desk" to get to work—had coaxed the city into spending nearly $16,000 in carpet and office furniture for his office last year, less than two years after outgoing Mayor Harvey Johnson renovated the same office.

Prospere said that the receipts reflected genuine purchases by the city but were actually divided up among other departments, such as the legal department.

"Some of those purchases were for the mayor's office, but the legal department needed new carpet," Prospere said.

Previous Comments

ID

65945

Comment

If you take the amount of money that the city has lost, forfeited, and given out in insanely high salaries and add it up, I would be willing to bet that the numbers would put us in the black. The city has always maintained a certain level of city services with slim budgets. I think that the problem is that you have people in place that simply do not understand how to make things work. I majored in math in college and it is simply a matter of shuffling around some numbers to justify a statement made by Prospere about why we are falling short of money. The city was claiming to be broke as early as February. That's only five months into the fiscal year. It's hard to believe that if Prospere is the financial wizard that Melton claimed him to be that he could make such a big booboo. I wonder how much money it is costing the city for FM to ride around in the Mobile Command unit. It probably only is as cost efficient as driving an army tank. If only we were as dumb as Frank thinks that we are. Good article Adam.

Author

lance

Date

2006-04-19T19:57:05-06:00

ID

65946

Comment

All hale Chief of Staff Ward. ROTFLMAO!!!! I thought that is what Whitlow was hired to do! Oh yeah, remember Whitlow! LOL!!! How long can the Melton apologists go on?

Author

pikersam

Date

2006-04-19T21:45:32-06:00

ID

65947

Comment

Good to see The Clarion-Ledger figuring out that the city budget, and our reserve fund, is in trouble. (Adam has been trying to tell folk this was happening all year, starting back in February. Sigh) August 6, 2006 Jackson losing reserve funds City could see bond rating drop if balance falls too low; $4.4 million of emergency money expected to be used By Jerry Mitchell FUND BALANCES Jackson's emergency fund balances for start of each fiscal year (Oct. 1): 2001: $14,032,257 2002: $9,040,143 2003: $9,829,783 2004: $9,702,837 2005: $12,571,604 2006: $9,500,000* 2007: $5,100,000* Source: Jackson officials; *estimated More than front lawns are drying up this summer. So is Jackson's rainy day fund. Since October 2004, the reserve fund, also known as the "fund balance," has shrunk from $12.6 million to an anticipated $5.1 million, officials say. "We can't be a viable city and continue to go into the fund balance," said Ward 2 City Councilman Leslie B. McLemore. "This is something we can't afford to do any longer." If the fund dries up any more, it could endanger the city's bond rating, Council President Ben Allen said. Currently, Jackson has an A-minus bond rating. But if the fund were to fall below $5 million, it could drop Jackson to a B-plus rating, he said. "That's as much as a half percent (on interest) on the money we borrow." For instance, if Jackson saw such a drop, the city would pay $3.5 million more in interest on bonds for the new convention center than "if we had our rating in check," he said. Rating agencies require cities to maintain a fund balance equal to 5 percent of the revenue budget- about $102 million in Jackson's case.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-07T12:07:27-06:00

ID

65948

Comment

Adam, I thought Ben was president already? Oh well. I wonder if Frank'll actually adress this issue or ignore it.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-08-07T13:11:29-06:00

ID

65949

Comment

Adam's story on this was written in April, note.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-07T13:37:20-06:00

ID

65950

Comment

The City of Jackson is headed for a financial C R A S H! fm does not understand the business aspect of this operation. He simply thought that being the mayor would allow him to dress up in police uniform, strap on his weapons, crank up the command unit and head for the black-belt. What happened to all of the "free" services we were getting post election? fm's wife and hb's wife were to head up the educational end. Where are all of the billions that were "just sitting in the wings" waiting for him (fm) to be sworn in? Think about this: It cost the tax payers body-guard services X 2 X 24 -7 for one person, frank melton. The command units is parked at his private dwelling and according to him, the officers live on the unit parked at his home. This is also the toy that he plays cops and robbers in and in reality has yeiled the City of Jackson absolutely nothing. Think about this: It cost the tax payers a small fortune to carry the mayor, 2 body guards, the City's SpokesPerson and the Lobbying Expert to Washington, DC. The purpose of this trip was to bring home at least $29million. The only thing that this trip produced was the mayor getting in trouble because of his wearing of an unauthorized badge and his report of being "treated like a dog." Think about this: The salaries for people like Jimmy and Jane who are not working full time but, are serving as consultants for as much as $150,000/year. This is a joke! I'm looking for the GUY Who started the LIE: HELP IS ON THE WAY

Author

justjess

Date

2006-08-07T15:11:17-06:00

ID

65951

Comment

Beyond Melton, I can very concerned about the other people—especially City Council—who are allowing this to happen, simply planning to blame Melton. Melton only had as much power as he has been allowed to have. Also, it is City Council's fault, as far as I'm concerned, that we have such a pitiful police chief. And the media's, for giving her/him a free pass for so long.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-07T15:17:48-06:00

ID

65952

Comment

If y'all hadn't noticed, I've had a shift in attitude. In Melton's second year, I plan to hold the feet of all those folks who have enabled him to the fire. His feet are already scorched. It's time to stand up.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2006-08-07T15:20:20-06:00