By Bryant Thigpen
Riverbend News
The Town of Jennings held their first budget meeting on Thursday, Sept. 10, and the council voted unanimously 4-0 to move forward with the proposed budget with a few amendments. Councilor Lamar Bennett was not present for the meeting.
Tax break for residents
The proposed budget the council discussed includes decreasing the town’s ad valorem taxes to a rollback rate of 4.7139, down from the prior year’s millage rate of 4.9500. In 2019, the town collected $58,162 in ad valorem taxes and adopted a budget amount of $61,731 for 2020. The budget proposed for 2021 will reduce the amount to $59,133.
Pay raises for employees
The budget also proposes a pay increase for all town employees. The town clerk and assistant clerk, police chief, road department supervisor and water and sewer supervisor is proposed to receive a six percent pay increase. Employees with the road department and sewer and water department will also receive a six percent increase in pay.
An item presented to the councilors but not included in the budget was a pay raise for the deputy clerk and a road department employee to $10 per hour. The councilors voted to include these pay raises in the proposed budget for the next meeting.
Hiring a permanent fire chief, police officer
The proposed budget that was considered at the meeting included the hiring of a permanent fire chief with a proposed salary of $40,000 per year. This item on the budget will move forward unchanged.
The council had also included hiring an additional part-time police officer to work 20 hours per week for $11,679.20. However, based on the recommendation of Jennings Police Chief Vincent Robinson, the councilors voted to increase the police officer position to a full-time status. If passed, the police department will consist of one full-time chief and two full-time officers.
Hiring a public
works director
The councilors also discussed eliminating the current waste and water supervisor position and creating the position of a public works director. The salary for this position was presented as a separate item, but was not included in the proposed budget. The councilors voted to include this position as a part of the budget for the next meeting.
If this change is approved, David Gause, who currently serves as the supervisor of waste and sewer, would be promoted to serve as the public works director and he would absorb his previous duties in addition to supervising the road department. If pay raises are approved, Gause will receive a six percent pay increase, raising his salary to $36,420.80. If he is promoted to public works director, his pay will increase by another four percent.
The final meeting for the 2021 budget was held on Monday, Sept. 21, at Town Hall in the Council Chambers, located at 1291 Florida Street in Jennings.