Mayor Conger explains decision to cut multiple city positions

JACKSON, Tenn. — 23 positions were cut from a variety of departments in the City of Jackson Tuesday, ranging from Health and Sanitation to the Animal Care Center. Wednesday, we followed up with Mayor Scott Conger to discuss the major decision he made in his first year in office.

“Those types of decisions have to be made,” Conger said. “They’re not fun. They’re not easy. Those are things we have to do to shrink that gap of our deficit.”

Several high level jobs were cut, including two managerial positions, which includes West Tennessee Farmer’s Market manager Tammy Buchanan.

“We’re consolidating that under Recreation and Parks, so Recreation and Parks will oversee the Farmer’s Market,” Conger said.

Also among the cuts was Health and Sanitation director Kathleen Honeycutt.

“We cut her position and replaced it with someone else. So, she’s actually retiring. So that was why that was put in there.”

Out of the 23 eliminated positions on the list, eight of them were from the Heath and Sanitation Department. So how will the city still be able to fulfill much-needed public services?

“We’re going to provide the services at a high level still,” Conger said. “We’re working on streamlining processes and finding more efficient ways to provide those services and hopefully enhance our ability to provide those services.”

Even though this cut stings now, hopefully it will heal itself in the long run.

“Sometimes we have too many people around, and that limits the ability to get things done, the ineffectiveness. So, I think it provides an opportunity for those departments to be more effective and efficient.”

The decision shrinks the city’s projected deficit of $4.2 million in next year’s budget to $3.6 million.

“We’re projecting our revenues very conservatively. So we can find ways to drive efficiency during the year if our revenues are better than what we’re projecting, that’ll continue to shrink that gap,” Conger said.

Conger added that many of the positions on that list had already been furloughed.