Jackson Finance Committee Meeting: April 22, 2026 Budget Shortfall Review
Jackson Finance Committee Meeting: April 22, 2026 Budget Shortfall Review
The finance committee met on April 22, 2026, to address a projected $20 million budget shortfall. Council members reviewed revenue and expense reports, debated discrepancies in data presented, and discussed potential cuts to personnel and fixed costs. The meeting concluded with a commitment from the administration to provide recommendations on redundant positions and a detailed expense breakdown by Monday.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were noted.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony were recorded.
Discussion Items
- Revenue Report Discrepancies: The meeting began with a review of a revised revenue proposal (Exhibit A). Councilman Parkinson had created a spreadsheet with similar categories, but the numbers had changed. The administration explained that the revised report was generated from a "train" (sandbox) environment, not the live system, to show proposed changes. Councilman Hartley objected, noting that actual figures for FY2024 and FY2025 differed from those provided at the previous meeting. He stated, "I'm not gonna go one week and tell you one set of numbers and come back the next week and tell you something different" and moved to adjourn until correct numbers were obtained. Other council members echoed concerns about transparency and accuracy. The administration clarified that the sandbox report was only intended to show the FY2026 proposed column, but the inclusion of historical actuals caused confusion. The committee ultimately agreed to work with a $112 million revenue figure.
- Expense Review and Shortfall Solutions: The committee reviewed Exhibit B (50% expense report) and Exhibit D (fixed expenses). Councilman Foote noted that under-spending in the first six months of FY2026 (e.g., police department personnel at 44% of budget, public works personnel at 36%) could be applied to the $20 million shortfall. The CAO recommended cutting redundant positions (yielding seven-figure permanent savings) and increasing employee health insurance contributions. The administration stated they cannot unilaterally cut positions; only the council has that authority. Council President Grizzell suggested cutting the HR department by one-third to 40%, citing that the city once had 2,250 employees with only seven HR staff, while now with fewer employees, HR has 15. The CAO agreed to bring a list of redundant positions by Monday.
- Health Insurance and Other Fixed Costs: Councilman Foote asked about switching from a "Cadillac" health plan to a more modest one. The CAO noted the city spends slightly north of $15 million on health insurance and cannot renegotiate the current United Healthcare contract; only employee contributions can be raised. A consultant was proposed to identify savings, but Council President Grizzell objected, noting Councilwoman Clay's insurance expertise. The administration also discussed cell phone costs, fuel cards, and software contracts, with the CAO highlighting $2.3 million in annual software spending as disproportionate.
- Employee Engagement and Cultural Change: Councilwoman Clay and Councilman Hartley proposed creating an anonymous email for employee suggestions on savings. Council President Grizzell advocated for a city-wide retreat to improve morale and customer service, suggesting using temporary staff for a half-day closure.
Key Outcomes
- The committee will continue to work with a $112 million revenue figure and will focus on cutting expenses to bridge the $20 million shortfall.
- The administration will provide a list of recommended redundant positions and a detailed breakdown of all departmental expenses (including cell phones, fuel, supplies, etc.) by Monday, April 27, 2026.
- The council agreed that a hiring freeze is already in effect and should continue, though exceptions may be made for essential public safety and public works positions.
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting focused on discussion and directives for future action.
Meeting Transcript
Sorry for the delay is 338, and we're calling the order the finance committee meeting today, April 22nd 2026. Are there any announcements? Okay. Let's Brian's. It's a backpack. Okay, thank you guys for being here today. We're gonna start with uh overview, and I'll first want to say thank you to um councilman Parkinson for making a spreadsheet for us. Um it's very nice, and some of the same things that you have in exhibit A is in the spreadsheet, except for the numbers have changed. What we did, I worked hand in hand with the budget department, and we basically came up with almost the exact same numbers for changing revenue. So what you have in front of you in exhibit A has some categories that were not that have been taken out of the original budget, not in terms of um replace, but they were basically um placeholders because everything in that category was zero, and we weren't gonna collect that amount of money, so we have eliminated that category from the budget, and so what you have in front of you is a modified uh copy of what we proposed for revenue, and you can make any changes you want to on this. What we did, we went in and we did every category, and in the categories you see what was the original budget amount, um, what we revised, the actual amount that we've collected, and what we are proposing for 2026. So we'll run through these categories right quick and let you know. And if there are any questions, you can answer your questions on the first category, the property taxes. We didn't change anything. Okay. The next category, there were a lot of changes, and you can see the changes in that category. If you have your first year to date budget report um for uh physical year 2026, basically what we did, we deleted all the zeros, the items that we saw that we were not gonna get close to, we went in and changed, and so like in the original one, I'll just do one category for you, and then if you need anything else, you can look through and ask. The original one 4215 building permits we had originally budgeted 1,043,929, and you see the actual was uh four hundred and thirty-five thousand fourteen dollars and seventy-six cents. So, fifteen, but if you have to look back at the one you hit previously. If you didn't bring that back, you don't have the previous. Oh, so what for this? So let me explain it a little different. If you don't have the previous one, okay, what you'll see is you'll see building, and now building is at 300 and oh well, building is at 929, 928 uh 651. Okay, 2024. Right. We're looking at the actual for that year, okay. 2025, it was 685,309, okay, for 2025, and then revised the same number, then the actual amount that we have taken in is 1,639 215. Okay. You see it? Okay, so why was it so much bigger? We don't know. Um, I don't know the answers to why things were bigger or what they were. As a council, when we got this proposed budget, we should have looked at what was actually taken in and questioned what was bigger than these. So we have gone in and adjusted the numbers closer to what they really are or what they are projected to be. So this whole category has been changed down to be what we anticipate it will really be. The category was originally 1,851 eight hundred and fifty-one four hundred and fifty-four. We decreased it by 300,000. Huh? 14. No, not 425 by itself, the category. If you look at, do you have your last year-to-date budget report for uh fiscal year 26? Yes, the one you hit last week. You got to bring the reports back to make it work. Okay, you follow me? So which of which items okay? I showed him as an example the item with building permits. When you get to the bottom of the category, the category for uh licenses and permits is one million eight hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty-four. You see that the new category is now down to one million five hundred and sixty eight thousand four hundred and twenty-six. You see it. Okay, so we decreased it by three hundred thousand.
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