Finance Committee Meeting: August 11, 2026 Budget Discussions
Finance Committee Meeting: August 11, 2026 Budget Discussions
The Jackson City Council Finance Committee met on August 11, 2026, to review proposed budgets for the Grants Division, Human and Cultural Services, Municipal Clerk, and Human Resources. Presentations included fiscal year 2027 budget requests, performance metrics, and challenges. Council members discussed funding priorities, community festivals, park inventory, and HR issues.
Discussion Items
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Grants Division: CFO Jillian Caldwell presented a proposed budget of $310,354, a decrease of $31,433 from the FY26 adopted budget. Grants Administrator Sandra Bell reported a 97.6% grant success rate in 2026, with $5.2 million awarded and $21.7 million pending. The division uses AI for grant writing. Council members Foote and Hartley emphasized the need for full disclosure of matching requirements and minimizing ratifications. Councilman Foote requested metrics on grant applications and success rates.
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Human and Cultural Services: Director Pamela DC Jr. presented the department's services, including senior services (2,200 congregate meals and 2,800 home-delivered meals monthly), youth programs, Jobs for Jacksonians (expungement program), ADA compliance, the Arts Center of Mississippi, Smith Robertson Museum (infrastructure issues), recreation (pools, pickleball courts), the zoo ($1.7 million annual cost, water bill issues, PR challenges), and the golf course (revenue at all-time high). Council members discussed the need for a parks inventory, community festival funding, and the zoo's public perception. CAO Peter Taylorson noted that the zoo, golf course, and Mynelle Gardens are not revenue-positive.
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Municipal Clerk: Angela Harris presented the office's functions, including TSA pre-check and passport services. Revenue of $112,000 through July 31, 2026, covers two salaries. Challenges include staff shortages and TSA system failures. Council noted the non-election year budget but stressed preparation for the 2029 general election.
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Human Resources: Director So you're Martin presented a proposed budget of $829,893, a reduction of $285,049 from the previous year. Accomplishments include onboarding 98 employees and training 227 supervisors. Challenges include employee retention, compensation, and technology. Council discussed exit interviews, CDL driver retention, and vacancies in public works. Councilman Foote requested a summary of exit interviews by department.
Key Outcomes
- Council members indicated intentions to offer amendments to increase community events funding to $200,000 and to reduce the grants and contributions to contingencies line to below $50,000.
- Council requested a comprehensive parks inventory (including amenities and attendance) and a summary of exit interviews by department (without names).
- The committee voted unanimously to go into closed session for an executive session on personnel matters.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, okay, good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon. We are calling together the finance committee meeting. It is 303 on Tuesday, August 11th, 2026. Happy to have everybody here. Long time no see. I'm sorry that you're stuck in the days with the least good looking council person, but um pleased to have Mr. Foote and Mr. Grizzell uh on life size with us. Uh today we are going to hear from Humanic Culture Services, the Office of the Municipal Clerk, as well as human resources. But we'll begin today with uh the grants division, uh, which was slated for yesterday when we uh ran out of time a little bit. So I am pleaded, unless Mr. Food or Mr. Grizzell, there's any opening statements you like to make. I'm pleased to turn it over to the administration as we hear about uh the grants, which is the last part of general government that we're gonna hear about. No opening statement from me. Okay. I'm ready to proceed, Ms. Chair. Thank you. Thank you so much. And as they're getting started, Mr. Foote and Mr. Grizzell, if there are documents that we have uh in person uh that you do not have, just let us know and and we'll correct that. But I believe most of the prayer is that lessons we're learning from yesterday, they made sure that we have everything that we need. Thank you. Yes, sir. I hope that is well. Thank you. Good afternoon. Jillian Caldwell, CFO. The grants division's fiscal year 2027 proposed budget totals 310,354 dollars, which is a decrease of 31,433 from the 2026 adopted budget of 341,787. The reduction is driven almost entirely by cuts um in the other services and charges category, which is mostly for travel professional services, um, contractual services, and other um membership dues. And this is an a planned um this offset, this is more than an offset plan increase in the um employee group insurance cost fund. Personal services, which the which fund the division staff salaries and associated benefits are proposed at 259,308 for FY27, and other services and charges are proposed at 51,046. And this is mostly for the contract for the um grant consultant that we have. This um this division is staffed by three um staff members. We have a program administrator who oversees the division. We also have a grant compliance officer, and well, we have two grant compliance officers. One um writes most of the city's grants, and the other assists with writing grants, and the other helps with compliance on the grants that we receive. Sandra Bell, Grants Division. Um, and thank you, Gillian, for those numbers. Oh, I guess I if I had anything to say about grants, I think that 2026 has been a very, very good year for us. Um, we are about five million dollars in the black in terms of grants that we have either received or assisted receiving with different departments in the city. And that has always been our goal is to work to make sure that we are able to um work behind the scenes. In some cases, we actually write grants from beginning to end. In other cases, especially in those technical areas like IT and public works, we're actually working with them through the process, making sure that the budget, all of the information that they uh submit is correct, and keeping them on task so that when it's time to submit the budget, uh the grant, we hope we're doing it early, which allows us a time to work with the funders to say, hey, take a look at this and see see if there's something that we could add to this grant or if there's something missing. So I think if you would talk to the different division directors, they would give us a thumbs up in terms of the way we're able to work with them and assure that grants go in as they need to. I guess the second part of it I would say is that we are um especially now working on the compliance end. Uh in the past, before there was a grants division, different organizations were just applying for grants. I say willy-nilly, they would uh do what they wanted to.
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