Business, economics, and what is coming next in Jackson.
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Budgets, taxes, rates, wages, and the numbers that decide what Jackson can afford.
A resolution on Tuesday's agenda would let the city contract with Municipal Intercept Company to collect unpaid debts under a state setoff law, a step that puts a private firm between residents and money the city says they owe.
An ordinance introduced on the Sept. 22 council agenda would amend Section 106-148 of the city code, the section that sets what it costs to dump at Jackson's solid waste facility. The same agenda carries a resolution to hire an outside firm to chase unpaid debts.
Supervisors closed an $8 million gap on Sept. 10 with a tax increase that generates about $2.3 million a year. The new criminal justice facility is the single largest reason the county says it needs the money.
A 30-page financial plan filed in federal court proposes Jackson sell its water and sewer assets to a new, city-independent authority. The document's own tables show what that buys: smaller rate increases, and a bond that only works if the city gives up control.
The Council set the city's millage at 63.03 mills on Sept. 3, a week before the budget deadline, committing to no tax increase even as Public Works faces a roughly $8 million cut and the city stares down a $23 million to $36 million shortfall.
Mayor Horhn's flat $112.9 million general fund plan trims Public Works by $8 million even as the city folds its parks crews into the department. The council has until Sept. 15 to find a different answer.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask voters for a 0.5% prepared-food tax increase and a 1% lodging tax increase. The money would go to Visit Jackson, and the tax has not moved since the bureau was founded in 1983.
Interim manager Ted Henifin filed the utility's financial management plan with the federal court Friday, projecting a 10% increase in spring 2027 and further hikes in 2028 and 2029.
Mayor John Horhn pitched a $112.9 million general fund budget as flat for fiscal 2027. It is $23 million below the current year's adopted budget, and two council members are questioning whether the revenue it counts on will actually arrive.
Mayor Horhn's $112.9 million general fund proposal holds spending flat, but two revenue lines drew sharp questions from the council's finance committee on Monday.