Mayor speaks out on budget concerns

June 21, 2024

Ryan Hodges,

JACKSON, Tenn. — City of Jackson Mayor Scott Conger hosted a livestream Thursday afternoon to speak to viewers about the proposed FY25 budget.

Following a special-called City Council meeting and work session that was held Thursday morning into the afternoon, Mayor Conger went live on Facebook to explain some of the details.

This explanation included Mayor Conger speaking on the $3 million difference between the expected revenue and expenses. During the livestream, Conger touched on an increase in prices.

“And as you all know, the cost of everything has gone up,” Mayor Conger stated. “And so that affects everybody. That affects local government too, because we’re buying materials, we’re buying things to make repairs to buildings, to provide the services that all of our employees provide.”

According to the budget report, the expenses have gone up 8% compared to last year’s budget. According to usinflationcalculator.com, the current U.S. Inflation rate is at 3.3%. This is roughly the same as it was in 2023.

In order to make up for the $3 million dollar difference between the expected revenue and expenses, Mayor Conger gave a possible solution.

“One of those is to utilize the savings that we have built up. Which is the reason that we have had, in a lot of cases, to be able to pay for things,” Conger stated.

The budget that was proposed to the City Council included a utilization of the fund balance of just under $3.8 million. The fund balance is similar to a savings account or a “rainy day” fund. This would take the money from that fund balance from $25 million, to just under $22 million.

“And so we still have $21 million in the savings account. To give you an example, 21 million in the savings account is 81 days — if we didn’t have any revenue coming at all, we could fund the government, everything for 81 days,” he stated.