The city of Starkville Board of Aldermen approved a $14.4 million budget 6-1 for the upcoming year to fund public safety, improve streets and infrastructure and encourage growth.
“The most important [means of funding] is sales tax,” budget committee chairman and Ward 5 Alderman Matt Cox said. “Thirty-five percent of our revenue comes from sales tax.”
The budget committee has estimated $5 million coming to the city in this way, Cox added.
If a student buys a textbook, 18.5 percent of the 7 percent sales tax on that book will go to the city, Cox said.
Fifty percent of the budget will go toward the protection of citizens, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey said.
A good portion of the budget will also go toward parks and recreations as well as improving streets and infrastructure.
“We’re providing four new police officers for the city,” Cox added.
“We [also] put money aside for streets and infrastructure,” Corey said.
The city has experienced issues in the past with roads and drainage. Many roads are in poor condition and they don’t drain properly so they flood when it rains and make navigating the roads difficult during rain, he said.
“Drainage can be kind of boring, [but] when your streets begin flooding it becomes important,” Cox said.
The city will soon begin a multi-year sidewalk improvement project, which will consist of connecting all the sidewalks in Starkville to make them more usable, Cox said.
Also, the Board of Aldermen wants to draw in even more revenue for the city without raising taxes, which the board has done well with in the last year, Cox said.
“What we’re trying to do in Starkville is encourage retail growth,” he said.
Growth in the city has generated an additional $700,000 in revenue from sales tax in the last year. This monetary growth has been included in the projection for the next budget year, Cox said.
“We didn’t raise sales tax and property tax but we will receive 10 percent more revenue,” he added. “We’ll earn about $100,000 more this year than last year.”
A good portion of the tax will also go to parks and recreations, he added.
The city will also be putting the utilities underground, which will add to the aesthetic appeal of the city and draw business. The city has experienced a great deal of growth and looks forward to having a larger budget without having to raise taxes, Cox said.
“The pace that we’re growing has so much to do with citizens, students, visitors and shoppers,” Cox added.
The sole vote against the budget came from Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins.
“My objections to the budget’s special contributions are not specific to any particular agency, but the overall dollar amount. I don’t think we can spend that kind of money on projects that are not as much an immediate need as building better roads and streets and improving our ditches and sewers,” Perkins said in an article in the Starkville Daily News.
These special contributions include the city’s monetary support being given to the Mississippi Horse Park and other outside organizations.