The Poplarville Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a $3.6 million budget for 2017 on Tuesday afternoon, a 7.9 percent increase over 2016’s budget of $3.3 million.
“The budget is operating at a bare minimum,” Mayor Brad Necaise said after the brief meeting at City Hall. “We have to focus on revenue generation in the coming year.”
Necaise said that while the city had a slight increase in sales tax collections, “other revenue streams over the past year were declining.”
Those revenue streams included ad valorem taxes and vendor fees.
“All of our revenue streams need to change direction next year, except the sales tax,” Necaise said.
Alderman Byron Wells said the city’s sales tax revenue benefited from the opening of the Love’s Truck Stop on Highway 26 near Interstate 59. The facility opened in June, and Wells noted that Love’s had said it was the company’s third-best store opening ever.
Of that total budget, $79,593 will go toward salaries for the mayor and Board members, $73,650 will fund the municipal court, $201,737 will fund the city’s administrative office and services, $723,920 will fund the police department, $65,967 will pay for the school resource officer and the benefits involved, $300,000 will fund the fire department, $346,744 will fund the maintenance of city streets, $180,000 will go toward garbage collections, $21,017 will fund code enforcement, $54,900 will fund the parks and recreation department, $21,560 will fund the cemeteries and $8,760 will support the airport.
The next meeting of the Board will be Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. in City Hall.