STARKVILLE – The board of alderman plans to generate an additional $2.1 million from property tax next year.
About $1 million of the additional $2.1 million would go toward costs already approved by the aldermen, which includes debt service for road work, an increase in city health insurance costs and changes to the fire department, Sistrunk told The Dispatch. The remainder would go to requests made by department heads and outside organizations, which includes raises for city employees, a funding increase for Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit and an increase to the police budget.
“I’m pleased we have a budget and a proposed millage rate that everybody can agree on some parts of,” Ward 2 Alderwoman and budget chair Sandra Sistrunk told The Dispatch after the meeting. “It would be ideal if everybody agreed on everything, but I’m glad that the board had the opportunity to weigh in on policy decisions.”
     Sandra Sistrunk   To fund the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027, the board needs to maintain its current property tax rate of 34 mills.
With property values expected to rise an estimated 20% next year, primarily from a reassessment from the Mississippi Department of Revenue that raised home and commercial values, the city’s tax rate can remain the same and still generate significantly more revenue.
What that would mean for taxpayers: the owner of a house now valued at $100,000 will see that value rise to about $120,000 and can expect to pay $68 more in city taxes next year with a homestead exemption and $102 more without homestead, if the tax rate stays the same. That does not count any potential increases coming from Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District or Oktibbeha County taxes.
“From my perspective, the amount (the tax) will go up for a single-family residence, and not to minimize it, but the dollar figure that it actually goes up is something that translates into maybe going out to a movie with popcorn and a drink or something once a month,” Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch. “And so that is to me I’d rather have clean water, safe streets, good streets to drive on and sacrifice a little bit of that on a personal level. … People want to be safe and that I think is the primary focus for any municipality, and in our case, we are no different.”
     Lynn Spruill   By leaving the tax rate at 34 mills, the city projects it would raise almost $13.15 million from property taxes, which the board accounted for in its proposed budget.
Sistrunk and Spruill agreed that the budget increases are needed to provide residents with services, maintain city infrastructure and increase public safety.
“We will get further enhanced police presence, which is and was the largest portion of our budget,” Spruill said. “… All the things they need to do their job will certainly, I think, enhance police and public safety. … I think the residents will continue to see things that have, in the past, told them that we are trying to do the very best we can for our residents.”
Tuesday’s meeting was set to see if the board could agree on cuts to its proposed budget to lower the millage rate, after Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins tried to get the board to agree to a rate of 28.69 mills at last week’s board meeting.
If the board lowered the rate to 28.69 mills, the taxpayer would see little to no increase in their property taxes. But that rate would have left a $1 million budget shortfall even if all proposed additions to the budget were cut.
“I would like to think (the budget will pass easily next week),” Sistrunk told the Dispatch. “… There will probably still be some people who vote against the budget and the millage rate, but I don’t think that is for lack of consideration of all those times.”
Perkins did not attend the special-call meeting and did not respond to requests for comment prior to press time.
Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn, who supported Perkins’ proposal last week, declined to comment following the meeting.
The board will have its second public hearing for the budget and millage rate at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, at which time it can adopt the mill rate and budget.