Madison Co. Commission makes first vote on 2019-2020 budget
JACKSON, Tenn. — The three and a half hour Madison County Commission meeting Monday included several votes, including the first of two required to approve the county’s fiscal budget for 2019-2020.
“It’s got considerably more debt,” Doug Stephenson, budget committee chairman, said. “We’re up to about $259 million [for the proposed 2019-2020 budget].”
But there is some positive news — they aren’t raising taxes.
“We’re still holding firm to the $2.35. The amount of money coming in is actually a little bit of an increase,” Stephenson said.
Another topic was something the commission has brought up a lot this year — the Sheriff’s Office budget.
He’s been approved for $22.2 million, but Sheriff John Mehr says he needs $25 million.
Some of that would go to pay raises.
“Since 1999, they had three. We had one when I first came in, which was pretty good. They agreed if we did this, they wouldn’t have to work second jobs and all that,” Mehr said.
Another question brought up during Monday’s meeting was why the West Tennessee Regional Training Center isn’t bringing in more money.
Sheriff Mehr says it’s actually saving money because he doesn’t have to send deputies to other places for training.
“We could spend $100,000 easy traveling all over West Tennessee or going to these others, but we’re hosting the classes and our people are staying here and other people are coming to us,” Mehr said.
When asked about charging other agencies to use the training center, Mehr said the situation is similar for most agencies.
“They don’t have it in their budget either. Everybody is strapped, just like corrections and everybody else,” Mehr said. “It’s better to do it here.”
The commission will hold another vote to approve the budget June 28.
The County Commission’s total budget for 2019-2020 is currently about $259 million. The county’s debt stands at about $84 million.
During the meeting, the commission also voted against having a monument for lynching victims placed in downtown Jackson.
Cindy Boyles with the Jackson-Madison County Community Remembrance Project sent out a statement Monday afternoon saying, in part, they are “confident they will find an alternate location” for the monument.
