Madison County departments present budget proposals for next year

JACKSON, Tenn. — Madison County departments continued presenting their budget proposals for next year.

Five county departments met with the budget committee Thursday morning to present their budget requests for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

One of those departments, the Madison County Fire Department, is expected to receive increases in their budgets for next year.

Budget Committee Chairman, Doug Stephenson, says the fire department’s increase is to allow for more staffing.

Stephenson says the budget, overall, is expected to increase for next year because of a near 7% increase in sales tax.

“One of the things we’re trying to really get a handle on is we’re getting $19 million, but we don’t know how we can use that, so that’s sort of a big question mark on what we’re going to be doing,” he said.

The budget must be in and approved by July 1, but Stephenson says by the first of June they should have a good idea of the final budget with some solid numbers.