JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – During a special meeting of the Jackson City Council on Thursday, the budget was adopted for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The budget, which was unanimously adopted by the City Council, was adopted without a millage increase.
One of the most notable accomplishments was the pay raise for the Jackson Fire Department (JFD). The council was also able to provide raises for the police department and municipal court judges.
Two code enforcement officers, an extra attorney and five park rangers were added to the budget.
Each ward will receive $100,000, which will go toward resurfacing projects.
Jackson City Council President Aaron Banks, Ward 6, said he feels good about the implementations that were made.
“I think the important thing to know is this is the one time of the year where the council buckles down to do the hard work of prioritizing the concerns of our citizens, our constituents in each ward. And we bring it to the body. We bring that to this body, and we do the hard work in committee. And we come out with this budget. Once this budget is passed, then it’s handed over to the chief executive officer to be executed. And so, we feel pretty good about this year,” said Banks.
He said no other department will suffer because monies left over will be able to help with the raises. However, the mayor’s office will see a 15% decrease.
The Jackson Zoo was left off of the list. Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba supports the efforts to keep the attraction open.
“We’ve been adamant that we have to give the zoo a true chance with marketing and all of those things. A number of things that have been happening at the zoo is a lot of capital projects and improvement to in order to maintain the zoo,” the mayor said.
“We’ve got to look at, you know, what works. We got to look at the investments. We’ve got to look at what kind of year we got to really look at it. But I think the commitment is that we know over a long period of time, we can’t continue to spend $1.6 million and only get a return of $55,000,” said Banks.
“We’re actively seeking grants, and we are looking at multiple changes at the zoo to make it, you know, a lot more useful to all the citizens of Jackson,” said Jackson City Councilman Vernon Hartley, Ward 5.