Town battling over budget

Special to PN After the monthly Board meeting on July 6, the Board called special sessions on July 9, July 16 and July 23 to discuss finances.  As of July 1, the Town had $128,125.34 worth of bills, but only $91,289.54 in the general fund to pay them. In the July 23 meeting, the Board transferred $158,000 from the Enterprise Fund to General Fund to cover salaries and expenses. “The Board voted at the last special session to transfer funds from the enterprise (which is sewer and water utility) to general to cover the bills,” said Mayor Beechem.  “The money that was used was the money we need to help get our lagoon updated, etc. to help out the town meet the new MDEQ mandates or at least get close to it.  We are working on a grant so we won’t have to increase residents water bills again. We should hear about that grant in December. We are already behind on the date for updates but our timeline is what we submitted in to MDEQ so they can see where we are.” “I asked Eddie (Jones) what about next month and the lagoon, and he said we will worry about it when we get there.” Jones, alderman-at- large, also said that the Board is not going to hire a clerk or part-time clerk at this time. At the July 9 Board special session, the Board did not take action on the unpaid claims docket which meant that the bills did not get paid. The only way the bill get paid is with the Board’s approval of the claims docket. At the July 16 Board special session, the Board tabled the agenda item concerning budget and decided to discuss employee salaries at another time. The monthly payroll is approximately $20,000.  So, in order to pay the employees in July, the Board transferred the funds from the Enterprise account which the Mayor told them they could not do. The Mayor’s recommendations include re-evaluating staff and expenses. She said Pelahatchie only needs three to four full-time officers and four part-time instead of seven in which we also pay health insurance $6000 apiece.  “We are a small town. We simply can’t afford a chief for $52,000 or maintenance for $53,000,” said Beechem.  “We have to re-evaluate this thing. A town our size has one full time officer and four part time, and they don’t overspend in expenses and they don’t have excessive loans.” “They have been doing this for years and this is why we have to always borrow,” said the Mayor.  “Until these loans that the previous administration accumulated are paid down or off. We pay out $20,000 a month to MDA, and $54,000a year with $16,000 more interest for a bond that was obtained in 2010 in the amount of $950,000.” Budget has to be approved by September 15 for the new fiscal year beginning October 1.