UPDATE: Additional questions related to the proposed FY 25 budget
JACKSON, Tenn.—After Thursday’s meeting, we have additional questions related to the proposed FY 25 budget.
They are as follows:
1) During the Mayor’s Facetime Live segment on Thursday afternoon, he said he would not balance the budget on the backs of City Employees. From such a dramatic statement, it would seem the City was laying off personnel, but we could find no evidence of staff reduction. Are there any Departments who are being downsized?
Is the budget solely on the backs of the Taxpayers? Please note, even though there has not been a property tax increase in recent years, taxpayers are paying more in property taxes due to the recent change in assessed value for their homes and property. The average assessment increased over 40%, which translates into a 40% increase in their taxes.
2) When and where was the Consultant Report the Mayor referred to related to the City Salaries? We would like to share it with our viewers.
3) Would it be more fiscally prudent to stagger raises over several years, instead of trying to do it at one time?
4) We have not heard of any serious difficulties in hiring personnel for the City outside of Patrol Officers. Most cities we examined are also faced with raising salaries for Patrol Officers due to the shortage of qualified candidates. What other jobs does the City need to fill that they are so unable to fill without a significant increase in salary?
5) The Mayor also said in his Facebook Live that he believed the inflation rate was around 8%. Here is what we found:
Current US Inflation Rates: 2022-2024
|
Year |
Jan |
Apr |
|
2024 |
3.1 |
3.4 |
|
2023 |
6.4 |
4.9 |
|
2022 |
7.5 |
8.3 |
The projected rate of inflation is roughly 4% through next year, which is almost half of the proposed increase for FY 25.
6) Near the end of the Mayor’s Facebook Live, he claimed that he spent taxpayers money as he would his own. Is the Mayor constantly dipping into his savings account if he is short in his checking account? This is the third budget in a row to tap into the reserve (rainy day) fund. Is it fiscally sound and prudent to constantly dip into a fund whose primary purpose is to be a fallback when the economy is bad or something unplanned occurs that would require immediate, unbudgeted attention
Other Cities, Counties and the State of Tennessee have been increasing their Reserve (rainy day) fund during the last several years, not using it to balance the budget. When was the last time the City added to the Reserve Fund, instead of draining it? The proposal would spend 12% of the remaining balance.
The mayor mentioned the remaining fund balance would be just under $22 million. If the city stopped gaining revenue, this amount would fund the entire city for 81 days. For FY 23, that figure was 100 days. A loss of nearly 3 weeks. Does the City anticipate using the Reserve Fund for future years as well? What is the minimum amount of days and money needed to protect the City during tough economic times or catastrophic disasters.
7) Have you spoken to the Controller’s Office? We could not find any financial issues related to the case in 2019 when the City had to approve to use the former year’s budget, in order to have time to develop one that made sense. From the people we have spoken to, outside of phone calls from the Controller’s office suggesting the budget be completed on time, there were no issues.
In fact, the only recent issue we could find was caused by the Finance Office and the former Mayor not classifying expenses correctly in their proper places within the City’s expenditure.
As such, why is there a rush to complete something that can be postponed if properly handled with the rules set up by the Controller’s Office?
8) If we are to compare Jackson with other cities, should we not use ones that are actually similar? Comparing it to Nashville or Germantown are apples to oranges.
Clearly Nashville is a major metropolitan area and much larger city. The cost of living far exceeds Jackson’s and Nashville City’s revenue far eclipses it as well.
Germantown is smaller than Jackson, but the average income per household is higher, as is the average price for a home. We did find a current ad they are running for a Police Officer (found on the City’s website):
Police Officer Recruit – ENTRY LEVEL – $$20.9672 per hour/ $46,337.51 Annually
Police Officer 1 – Commissioned Officer – $26.3000 per hour/ $58,123.00 Annually
Police Officer 2 – $28.1407 per hour/ $62,190.95 Annually
Police Officer 3 – $30.1110 per hour/ $66,545.31 Annually
Police Officer 4 – $31.6161 per hour/ $69,871.58 Annually
Police Officer 5 – $33.1969 per hour/ $73,365.15 Annually
Out of the top 10 cities in Tennessee, Jackson is ranked number 9. Would it not be a better comparison to look at what the two cities in Tennessee closest to City’s population for a more apples to apples approach?
8 Johnson City 73,337
9 Jackson 68,264
10 Hendersonville 63,618
9) Why is the City losing over $300,000 in garbage expenses? The taxpayers have already been impacted in this area when the service was reduced from picking it up by your house to taxpayers now having to roll a 90 gallon trash can back and forth from the curb. In addition, instead of regular curbside bulk waste pick up, it now has to be scheduled and is limited to how often it will be provided.
10) Most importantly, what are the top 5 things this budget does or provide for the residents and taxpayers of the City of Jackson? Are they getting what they deem important? Are their cars running over rough and deteriorating roads having a negative impact on their quality of life? Are City Vehicles more important than theirs?
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