Jackson officials warn of lean 2015-16 budget year

Estimates show $15 million gap in what tax revenue will bring in to the city of Jackson for the next fiscal year compared to the amount requested by city departments, according to the city director of administration.

The city of Jackson is in the process of preparing a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

On Monday, the city council’s budget committee had a discussion about the 2015-2016 budget and received a report from Director of Administration Trivia Jones.

City Council President Melvin Priester Jr. said Monday the city’s budget is in a dire situation.

Jones said the city is moving to a priority-based budget for the upcoming fiscal year. She said the estimated amount of property tax revenue to come in for the next budget year is $106 million. She said department heads were asked to provided figures on the amount needed for their departments to operate.

Initially, the total amount sought by departments heads was $138 million, $32 million more than tax revenue estimates. The administration told them to cut back their budget requests to 2014 budget year levels, and the total amount requested under that level is $121 million, or $15 million more than property tax revenue estimates.

“Get ready to roll up your sleeves,” City Councilman De’Keither Stamps said Monday at the budget committee meeting.

Jones said the city is estimates to have 0.1 percent decrease in tax revenue for the upcoming budget year.

However, Jackson’s total assessed property value decreased slightly. The 2015 value is $1.212 billion, which is down 0.1 percent. Hinds County Tax Assessor Charles Stokes said a state law that went into effect Jan. 1 exempting disabled veterans and their surviving spouses from homeowner’s taxes is primarily responsible for the decrease in Jackson.

Mississippi Department of Revenue spokeswoman Kathy Waterbury has said disabled veterans or their spouses who qualify should check with their county tax assessor and make sure that they meet the application requirements so they can get full benefit of the new exemption.

“The estimate for the tax loss for the local governments is $1 million,” Waterbury said.

Stokes said he expects the loss to be higher than $1 million statewide.

Stokes said Hinds County has received 120 applications, totaling more than $140,500 in tax exemptions, with a majority of the applications coming from disabled veterans in Jackson.

“This is a moving target,” Stokes said. “We could see more applications next year.”

A loss of property tax revenue will come from the University of Mississippi Medical Center taking over Courthouse Racquet & Fitness centers, Stokes said.

The six courthouse locations, including two in Jackson, are now UMMC property, and since the medical center is state owned, it is exempted from property taxes. The former fitness centers became UMMC Wellness Center this year.

The former Courthouse fitness centers were located in Brandon, Byram, Flowood and north Jackson, in Madison and downtown Jackson. The downtown Jackson and Madison locations were leased property. UMC took over those leases.

Jones said although a 0.1 percent decrease doesn’t seem like much, it can add up when you are talking about a city budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.