Melton’s Million for Youth Jobs Fails

Kenya Hudson

City Council Budget Committee Chairman Marshand Crisler

by Adam Lynch
June 17, 2008

Even as hundreds crowded into City Hall Tuesday night, called to turn out by Mayor Frank Melton, the Jackson City Council failed to support the mayor's last-minute summer job program for city youth, citing lack of funds to pay for young people to work for private businesses. The vote was 3-3, with Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon absent. “We’re coming up on the end of our budget cycle, so that money is not currently budgeted, and so that is not very prudent to make financial decisions in that manner,” Budget Committee Chairman Marshand Crisler told the Jackson Free Press. "I think it would be much more prudent for the mayor to make this suggestion at the beginning of the next budget cycle, and see if we can find monies—not out of the general fund, but other locations—to fund this program for next year.

Melton inserted his request on the agenda over the weekend for consideration by the council Tuesday night. Melton wants the council to sign off on spending $600,000 from the city’s reserve fund and a budget transfer of another $600,000 from a $6 million line of credit the city applied for to pay for debris removal after storms hit the city in early April. Melton did not return calls, but told The Clarion-Ledger that he believed the $600,000 would be reimbursed to the city fund next year. He did not outline how.

“These kids want something to do,” Melton told the paper. “I can’t wait until next year. It’s something that has to be done now. These kids need jobs now.”

Credit agencies look at the amount of money in the city’s reserve fund, in part, to determine the interest rate of bond money the city borrows for projects, such as emergency infrastructure repairs. Crisler spoke strongly against funding the summer project with reserve fund money, and said Monday that he would not likely approve the budget transfer.

“There are some other avenues that we should approach, other than dipping into the reserves. That’s usually a no-no. And also, it negatively affects your debt capacity … and borrowing. Obviously, we just borrowed $6 million, and the way we were able to that is (because we) were more responsible with our reserves,” Crisler said.

Melton plans to use the money to expand the city’s existing summer job program, which employs about 60 young people and has cost about $85,000 for the last three years. The program is funded, in part, through state and federal grants. Melton wants to increase the 60-employee head count to about 900, and was already working on the paperwork to employ the kids on Monday. Melton told reporters he had the support of three council members on the budget transfers. But he needs four.

The mayor’s term ends in July 2009. He said he places a high priority on keeping city youth busy and is less concerned with the impact the new debt will have upon the city’s ability to borrow money.

Crisler and Ward 2 Councilman Leslie McLemore have argued in favor of keeping a hard eye on the city’s money. Balancing the budget has been no easy matter during the last two years, with the council fighting to make ends meet for city departments. Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin reported last year that the city’s police department had spent most of its overtime budget within a handful of months before he arrived as chief in November. The city has also had to close vacant positions to cover holes in the budget for the last five years.

Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill said he was also leery of moving more than $1 million into a summer jobs program.

“Government has priorities, and that’s protecting the people and keeping the streets resurfaced, and we need to think very hard before going far beyond that,” Weill said. “This $1.2 million that the mayor wants to spend is 20 percent higher than the entire city’s resurfacing budget for 2008.”

Weill said he had expected City Hall to be packed with people watching the council vote, but that didn’t change his vote: “My e-mails are running 99-to-one that this expansion is an imprudent use of our tax dollars.”

Crisler said he might favor an expansion of city services in a summer program if the program involved more of a public/private partnership, where the city offers placement services for youths with local businesses rather than financing their paychecks.

Unwavering Melton supporters Kenneth Stokes, Charles Tillman and Frank Bluntson voted to fund the job scheme.

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