MCJ: Supervisor wants more time to look at budget

Supervisor D.I. Smith

Madison County approved a $70.9 million budget without a tax increase, but at least one supervisor complained that he and the public didn't have a chance to see the numbers far enough in advance.

Overall, the budget is up slightly over last year, but $20 million in one-time bond monies helped inflate the 2009-2010 numbers and forced some department heads to make cuts this year.

District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson touted the budget, thanking Comptroller Quandice Green and others for their had work balancing the budget and avoiding a tax increase in a hard economic year.

Supervisor Tim Johnson

"It was a tough budget, but we're going to move forward with no tax increase," Johnson said. "There's only one county that has lower taxes than Madison County and that's Tunica. And not that I'm advocating it, but if they allowed us to open a casino on the Pearl River we could probably beat Tunica County too."

The board voted 3-2 to approve the proposed budget with District 1's John Bell Crosby and District 3's D.I. Smith voting against.

Smith said that he was disappointed that he didn't get a copy of the budget until last week and felt the public had no information ahead of time.

"To me it's unconscionable to hold a public hearing when the public hasn't even been given anything to look at," Smith said. "We should be giving an overview of what we're getting in this budget and what we're losing."

Read the entire article at The Madison County Journal