Government bodies in Morgan County are examining accounts payable and accounts receivable closely as they prepare budgets for establishing millage rates later this summer.
Madison City Manager John Klimm and Finance Director Karen Stapp presented the FY2025 budget to Mayor Fred Perriman and council members on May 17. They held the final public hearing on the matter on June 10. Adoption is scheduled for the June 17 meeting.
According to City Manager John Klimm, the proposed overall budget number represents a reduction of approximately $275,000 compared to the FY2024 budget.
Klimm said Madison’s overall budget reduction was achieved through consolidation, privatization, operational audits, and other efficiency measures.
Last year, Madison reduced its general fund budget by a little more than $88,000. Still, that number will increase by almost $400,000 this time around as the city absorbs increases in expenses for several departments.
Madison’s Police Department spent $1,824,105 last year and is expected to pay $2,053,150 in FY 2025, an increase of more than 12%. According to budget documents, the MPD plans to hire four new employees to increase its expenditures by $174,000.
The budget for Madison’s Planning and Development wing will also increase because the city plans to add to staff, increasing salaries from $169,171 in FY 2023 to $318,00 in FY 2025.
“We have committed to properly staffing our planning department with the permanent funding for the position of assistant planning director,” Klimm said. “Our planning department is one of the busiest in the region.”
Three other new positions were created in other departments as well. The City of Madison adopted a millage rate of 5.424 citywide, equating to $217 in property taxes for each $100,000 of property owned.
The millage rate for the special downtown district was set at 1.001, which translates to a tax obligation of $40 for each $100,000 of property.
The city established a millage rate of 1.122 for the interstate corridor district, which obligated property owners to pay $45 for each $100,000 of property.
Madison’s fiscal year ends on June 30 and begins anew on July 1.
The Morgan County Board of Commissioners is also in the middle of the budget process and held a hearing to discuss it on June 4.
According to the county’s website, Morgan County’s expenses for FY2025 will increase by $1,724,309 from $25,849,227 in FY2024 to $27,583,536. The increase from FY2023 to FY2024 was similar at $1,555,812.
However, the BOC lowered the millage rate last year to 9.99, a three-percent millage rate drop and the lowest rate since 2015, according to Finance Officer Lori Sayer.
The Morgan County Board of Education has not officially adopted a new millage rate, but a rollback millage rate of 13.511 mills has been proposed. It is expected to be approved at the Aug. 14 meeting of the Morgan Board of Education.
According to the BOE website, the Morgan County School System is anticipating $48,021,450 in revenue, with almost half of that ($23,150,131) coming from the state and local revenue, which provides another $22,918,879.
Other local revenue totaled $1,600,000, with state transportation funds accounting for another $352,000.
The previous school system millage rate established by the BOE was 13.88 in FY2023 and 13.511 last year. The BOE’s millage rate has declined yearly since a high of 18.2 mills in 2013. The BOE is projecting a millage rate of 13.09 for FY2025.