STARKVILLE – A balanced city budget with no tax increases next year means the police department will get half as many cameras and new personnel as expected.

Still, the City Council plans to hold public hearings on a fiscal year 2025 budget that does not include an increase in ad valorem taxes. The City Council must approve its budget by Sept. 15 before the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

Second District Councilwoman Sandra Sistrunk, chair of the body’s budget committee, said councilors went into Friday’s work session with a $227,000 shortfall between estimated revenue and planned spending. Instead of proposing a tax increase to close the gap, councilors tried to cut spending — including cutting $140,000 from a planned expansion of the police department’s cameras, cutting the rest from estimated legal costs and by delaying the creation of a capital improvement fund for at least another year.

“It seems that while it’s easy to say in the abstract that you support something, when it comes to funding those programs, it gets a little more difficult,” Sistrunk said during Tuesday’s board meeting at City Hall. “There didn’t seem to be an appetite for a tax increase this year.”

Police Chief Mark Ballard asked councillors in May to fund 41 cameras and eight license plate readers to be installed in high-crime areas over the next two years. That would be in addition to the 34 cameras already installed. He also asked for two more staff members to monitor camera feeds from the station, bringing the total from one to three staff members.

At the time, city officials estimated the cost of the cameras and readers would be about $288,000, with half of that to be paid for over the next two years. The new employees would cost between $70,000 and $80,000 annually.

Despite a balanced budget, the department can only afford ten new cameras and one new employee next year.

“This gives us the opportunity to gain initial insights into the program,” said Sistrunk.

Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins, who represents District 6, did not attend Friday’s work session and was not happy with Tuesday’s proposal, which he called a “stopgap measure.” He believes the city should fully fund Ballard’s proposal, whether that means raising taxes or finding other savings.

“I’m not the type of person who just supports a tax increase,” Perkins said. “I have a long history of opposing tax increases. … (But) we can’t compromise public safety. … There’s nothing that should have a higher priority.”

Kim Moreland, who represents District 1, agreed with Perkins.

“I believe the cameras are critical to the safety of the city,” she said. “If we had voted tonight for a tax increase, I would have been one of those who would have supported it. I know that’s not a popular opinion, but that’s how important they are.”

Ward 5 Councilman Hamp Beatty disagreed, pointing out that a tax increase in fiscal year 2025 would mean three tax increases in the last four years. He said the budget as it stands includes $622,000 in general employee pay raises to keep pace with inflation.

“We are stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” Beatty said. “… We have added things of value, like the raises that are important to our city employees. We are trying to get the cameras … and the personnel into the police department. That may take two to three years, but we intend to follow the chief’s recommendation.”

Beatty also mentioned the budget’s projected 6.3% increase in sales tax revenue, but that it could be “slightly” below target, as was the case in fiscal year 2023, when the city missed its forecast by nearly $500,000.

After the meeting, Sistrunk acknowledged that the forecast was “aggressive,” but that it was based on initial revenue after Cornerstone Park began hosting baseball and softball tournaments this year, as well as what she hopes will be an additional $400,000 in revenue from the Triangle Crossing development, for which a state tax abatement expires in January.

Sistrunk also told The Dispatch she is one of three councilors who support a tax increase to fund 20 police cameras and two new staffers this year. However, she does not see the votes because only two other members of the seven-member body appear to be on her side.

To achieve this, the ad valorem tax on real estate and movable property would have to be increased by 0.4 percent. For homeowners, this would result in a tax increase of $4 per $100,000 of home value.

Moreland is more optimistic that he can muster the one vote needed to raise next year’s funds.

“I would like to believe we can,” she said.

Ballard told The Dispatch after the meeting that his department would accept the board’s decision and adjust accordingly.

Zack Plair is the managing editor of The Dispatch.