The City of Jackson's Financial Outlook is Positive

Kenneth Cummings, Communications Director

Mayor Scott Conger has served two years into his term as mayor of the City of Jackson, TN. Despite serving his first full calendar year during a worldwide pandemic, he has made the City’s fiscal health a priority through balancing the budget.

"Having a balanced budget is important because it's the projection of how we're going to spend and how we're going to have our revenues in for the coming year," said Mayor Conger. "It lets the taxpayers and citizens know we're going to be responsible with their money."

Conger said that the City wants to make sure services are being provided and investments are being made without increasing debt, which will put the City in a better financial position to make larger, long-term investments in our infrastructure and quality of life amenities.

"Our debt service is around $12M dollars, so our payment is around $12M a year until 2024," said Conger. "We’ll then see that drop in half, which will free up the opportunity for us to make even better investments in our city provided that we don't take on any new debt."

According to Mayor Conger, the City is doing well financially.

"We're doing very well financially. We've had a surplus the past three years and we're looking at utilizing some of those surpluses to make some much needed investments in our city."

The Budget Committee

The Budget Committee plays a major role in keeping the budget balanced. Mayor Conger established a budget committee during his first year in office. The committee is composed of members of the Jackson City Council as well as non-elected citizens of our city. Conger says that the committee brings "new eyes" in from outside council members and lets them get a "fresh look" at the budget process.

"[The Budget Committee] makes sure that we're keeping an eye on expenditures revenues throughout the year," said Conger. "They also look at those longer-range plans of our capital expenditures, how we can plan for the future.”

The efficiency and transparency of the budget process has improved in the last two years with the addition of the budget committee according to Mayor Conger, from allowing council members to be a part of it and changing when and how budget meetings with department heads are conducted.

"I think part of that is more of a year-round process when you look at it," said Conger. "Bringing the Budget Committee in and having more time for our council members to view [the budget]; having those work sessions this year for them to ask questions so that we're not having marathon meetings."

Conger said that City of Jackson Department Heads are very important to the budget process, adding that when they carefully monitor their budget and take ownership, it makes things better.

"Our department heads are critical. They're the ones doing the work," said Conger. "They have their employees and their departments and so having them heavily involved in the process, having them understand the process and take ownership of it, you see that positive impact throughout our organization."

How COVID-19 Affected the Budget

Mayor Conger said that COVID-19 caused uncertainty for the FY20-21.

"Covid has made it unpredictable for this current year that we're finishing out," said Mayor Conger. "We projected anywhere from 10% reduction in revenue in our sales tax revenue and now seeing an 8% increase from the year before, so it just creates that unpredictability."

Conger said that going forward with this year's budget, there is still some uncertainty because of help from the federal government.

"This past year we've seen stimulus payments, a lot of improvement acts, and money coming in from the federal government and unemployment benefits," said Mayor Conger. "At some point that will run out: stimulus payments will stop, enhanced unemployment benefits will stop, and we don't know how that affects the buying power. “

“Our budget process is very open,” said Mayor Conger. “Our Budget Committee meets once a month and we want to make sure that we're utilizing every dollar that we take into the best of our ability. Being efficient, transparent and accountable in everything we do.”