Hattiesburg, Mississippi – On Tuesday night, the City of Hattiesburg held its annual budget hearing in which the administration presented a $155.2 million budget recommendation for consideration by the Hattiesburg City Council.
“Providing key city services to the citizens of Hattiesburg begins with a solid financial foundation,” said Mayor Toby Barker. “Throughout our first term, we made great strides in making sure our foundation was fiscally sound through up to date audits, a restored Moody’s bond rating and a structurally balanced general fund budget. This Fiscal Year 2022 budget will build on that while continuing our momentum for investments across infrastructure, public safety and quality of life enhancements.”
Highlights of the budget include:
- No property tax increases. City millage remains at 53.13 mills for Fiscal Year 2022.
- Continued structural balance in the city’s general fund. Of the $155.2 million total budget, the city’s general fund comprises $55.06 million.
- Investment in paving and drainage. $2.6 million will be allocated for paving with another $670K allocated for drainage. An expected increase in the city’s diversion of use tax will likely push these amounts higher.
- Conservative revenue outlook. The administration projects sales tax revenues at $23.5 million. While this would be the city’s highest projected amount to begin a fiscal year, it is still lower than the total sales taxes produced in the current fiscal year.
Barker added, “In addition to good budgeting practices and service to our citizens, we will also continue to raise salaries for personnel in several departments.”
Specifically, the Fiscal Year 2022 budget will address pay raises for the following:
- Sworn fire personnel will receive their annual step raise.
- Sworn police officers, dispatchers, code enforcement officers and department directors will receive raises.
- Public Works and Parks & Recreation personnel will receive wage increases based on years of service.
- The minimum wage in the Water & Sewer Department, which is supported by a special enterprise fund, will increase to $15/hour.
During the budget presentation, the council also heard from Shows Dearman & Waits regarding capital improvement needs and a water and sewer rate study. In it, the firm proposed a three-year phased-in rate increase to accommodate infrastructure needs required by the City’s consent decree.
The proposed increase includes a three-year phased-in increase:
- Fall 2021: +$1.48 water / +$1.48 sewer
- Fall 2022: +$1.60 water / +$1.60 sewer
- Fall 2023: +$1.73 water / +$1.73 sewer
The total minimum bill after the final increase during the Fall of 2023 will be $46.66.
The recommended increase comes after looking at several external pressures from the City’s consent decree, which was announced last August as a settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to significantly reduce sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and to improve the overall operations of Hattiesburg’s sewer system.
It also comes after looking at the capital improvement needs for water and sewer operations outside of the federally-mandated priority areas, the regular operation and maintenance of the water and sewer systems, increased fire protection capacity and debt reduction.
After receiving the budget presentation, the council will have an opportunity to review all accompanying documents and must vote to approve the budget by September 15.
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