Budget talk, Hattiesburg City Council

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Hattiesburg City Council unanimously approved the new budget for the 2016-2017 year Tuesday evening and have left some content with it.

Chief financial officer, Sharon Waits said, “Very strict time-constraints this year. We were able to follow the process as we normally do. However, we do have a budget that I am comfortable with. We do not have all our capital needs in there at this point. But, we do have sufficient funds in there to be able to assign some capital needs. We will present those request items for capitol items to the council and ask them to consider those and approve those with a budget amendment at the beginning of the fiscal year.”

Waits said the approved capital request will come out of the city’s $3.3 million ending cash balance.

A .81 millage increase for Hattiesburg residents and increased salaries for recent fire academy graduates at the Hattiesburg Fire Department will also be included in the budget.