The Sumrall Board of Aldermen is in the process of working on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that will meet the needs of the town’s residents without an increase in taxes.
Mayor Joel Lofton and the board discussed the matter at the August 19 work session, where the mayor said the measure may be possible because of positive revenues received by the town over the last year, despite the recent inflation experienced across the country.
“The board has not voted to approve the upcoming budget, but we have been crunching numbers and looking at expenses,” Lofton said. “Even as expenses have risen in quite a few categories significantly, we’ve had good revenues this year, and we believe that we will not have to raise taxes.
“I know that’s what we believe, but until it’s final … I guess it’s not over with. But I just think we won’t see an increase for the Town of Sumrall, tax-wise, this year. Unless hits us within the next few days, our numbers appear to be such that we will be able to go into next year and continue to do good things, continue taking care of our employees – who in turn do an excellent job of taking care of the community – without having to dig any deeper into our citizens’ pockets.”
According to numbers provided by the Mississippi Department of Revenue, the sales tax collected by the Town of Sumrall over the past year is as follows:
- August 2021: $76,983
- September 2021: $73,645
- October 2021: $83,089
- November 2021: $69,909
- December 2021: $77,527
- January 2022: $83,926
- February 2022: $75,492
- March 2022: $85,041
- April 2022: $100,824
- May 2022: $91,241
- June 2022: $90,571
- July 2022: $94,843
Those figures run approximately two months behind; in other words, monies collected by the town in April represent tax dollars that were spent in February. Sales tax numbers are in addition to other taxes, such as city, county and/or school district taxes.
“We do try to be good stewards of the (community’s money),” Lofton said. “The tax dollars that are taken from the community, we try to be the best stewards of those dollars as possible.
“We have had an excellent year with revenues, and that, combined with good stewardship, I think, has put us in a good position to move into another year without having to increase taxes.”
The board of aldermen is expected to vote on a final budget in the near future. The upcoming fiscal year begins October 1.
“We’ve been working on these budget numbers, and we’ll get it before the board and everyone will have a chance to review it and ask questions, have deep discussions about certain categories,” Lofton said. “Quite honestly, we’re having to increase several categories, because expenses have increased.
“But at the same time, we’ve been fortunate this year to be able to improve equipment and some other things. So it will allow us to decrease a couple of other categories, where we’ve done well here. We’ll have a vote at a future meeting.”
