McComb officials are projecting lower revenue in the coming fiscal year.
Those projections come on the heels of a year in which a slowed pace of sales tax collections appears to be leading to a failure to meet revenue expectations.
So far, Finance Director Janice Dillon is projecting a fall in revenue of $360,386, from the $11,357,857 that was projected for this year to $10,997,471 for the 2018-19 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
With sales tax revenues on pace to fall short of the $5.9 million projected for this year, Dillon lowered estimates for the next year to $5.7 million.
Court fines and forfeitures are also expected to decline steeply. Dillon lowered that estimate from this year’s $550,000 to $350,000. She said changes in state law that prohibit arrests for non-payment of fines play a significant role in that decrease.
Other significant declines include $65,298 in the personal property tax estimate, $25,000 in the Cable One franchise fee, $10,000 in the AT&T franchise fee and $13,886 in utility fund management fee revenue.
Seven other funds show estimated declines of less than $10,000.
Not all revenues are projected decrease, however. Reimbursements on the 911 system are expected to rise about $65,000, and real property tax collections are projected to rise about $60,000. Interest income is projected to increase $30,000, and utility, automobile and mobile home taxes are expected to increase about $12,000 each.
In other business, City Administrator Kelvin Butler announced changes to the city’s organizational structure, which he said Mayor Quordiniah Lockley requested.
Among those changes was the return of the title of chief financial officer to City Clerk Servia Fortenberry. Dillon, who has served as CFO recently, will remain finance director, but will no longer be considered a department head. Finance department employees will report to Fortenberry.
City officials would not provide a complete organizational chart to the newspaper without charge.
The board also discussed a private road taken into the city in the 1996 annexation.
Public works director Chuck Lambert said the road appeared on no maps from that time as an official road, and he had found no record that the city had accepted the road as public.
“Historically, streets have to be to city standards to be accepted as public streets,” Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said.
At-large Selectman Donovan Hill, who previously served Ward 4, where the road is located, said the residents of the three or four houses on the road are asking the city to take on that job and “provide all the services the rest of the city gets.”
He said the rough nature of the road makes it difficult for city emergency responders to reach the properties on the road.
“When I lay down at night, I’d have a problem sleeping, knowing some of our constituents aren’t getting fire protection,” Selectman Devante Johnson said.
Lockley cautioned that making an exception for that road could open the city to obligations to upgrade any other private roads that might come before the board.
Fire Chief Gary McKenzie said he believed the fire department had responded to calls on the road before, and pledged that fire personnel would get where they need to be.
“Sleep well,” McKenzie said.
The board also:
• Heard a recommendation from Lockley to abolish the city election commission and allow the county election commission to run city elections.
• Heard a pitch from Hill to start ward councils in each ward.
• Considered payment of bonds for selectmen and city employees.
• Heard the March and April prisoner housing report.
• Considered purchasing iPads for board members.
• Considered televising board meetings through Cable One.
• Noted expired terms on the Historic Preservation Commission and the Licensing Board of Electrical/Plumbing/Mechanical Contractors.
