City aldermen and department heads are slated to see a pay raise in the upcoming budget proposal, amidst a tax increase projected to mainly “improve street conditions” within Yazoo City.
Based on the recent budget proposal, the city of Yazoo City will increase its taxes by three mills pending a public hearing on Aug. 22.
For the next fiscal year, the city of Yazoo City plans to increase its tax millage from 82.37 to 85.55. The increase in millage will fund the new bond issuance for improvements around the city.
“The increase in millage is based strictly on the bond that the citizens approved,” said City Clerk Kaneilia Williams. “The increase divided across (the population of the city) would come to about $14 more over the whole year for all taxes, from homes to cars to businesses…all taxes.”
The budget proposal would also include an increase in salaries for aldermen, the police chief, the fire chief, the public works director and the city clerk. The mayor’s salary will not increase, remaining the same from the last fiscal year.
In 2017, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved to raise alderman salaries to $26,175. However, in 2018, the board agreed to reduce their salary by three percent.
In this year’s proposed budget, the aldermen are projected to restore that three percent cut in salary, putting their salaries back at $26,175.
Based on the Mississippi Municipal League 2019 Salary Survey, the city alderman are the third highest paid aldermen in the state of Mississippi.
Department heads are also proposed to receive a pay increase, which would place the salaries of the police chief at about $60,000; the fire chief at about $58,000; the public works director at about $58,000; and the city clerk at about $58,000.
Mayor Diane Delaware’s salary, however, will remain the same at about $72,000.
The city council will hold a public hearing on its proposed budget and proposed tax levies for fiscal year 2020 on Thursday, August 22, at 5:30 pm in the City Hall board room, located at 128 E. Jefferson Street in Yazoo City.
Any citizen of Yazoo City is invited to attend this public hearing on the proposed budget and tax levies for fiscal year 2020 and will be allowed to speak for a reasonable amount of time and offer tangible evidence before any vote is taken.
