Jackson City Council approves budget using reserve fund balance

JACKSON, Tenn. — Jackson City Council members are going into the 2017 fiscal year concerned over how much they’re spending.

The council approved the budget Tuesday after finding out more than $3 million will be coming out of their reserve fund balance — even more than they initially thought.

“We get a second reading with an additional $500,000 going into our fund balance, and I think we have to do some things in the future to change that, to adjust to how we’re spending money and how we look at priorities and needs versus wants,” Councilman Scott Conger said.

Council members said they’ll be asking departments not to spend all of their budget if possible. “No matter how good a deal is, not getting everything we want, we’ve got to do that. The only other option is to raise taxes, and I don’t think anybody wants that,” Councilwoman Dr. Vicky Foote said.

With concerns over dipping too far into the fund balance over the next several years, City Council members decided to put a committee together to start looking at the budget earlier.

“We’ll have council members involved, the general public involved, so it brings more people to the table to really understand our budget, process, numbers, how departments are spending dollars, and we can start to prioritize how we’re spending our dollars,” Conger said.

City leaders also approved a new facility for the police department to store evidence. Some council members wanted to see more research before they made a decision.

“Any time we can save money and prove to taxpayers we’re doing everything we can to get the best deals for them, I think that’s what we need to do,” Foote said.

The new building for the Jackson Police Department sits across from their main headquarters and will cost around $750,000.