The Jackson City Council passed the compromise budget they worked out with Mayor Tony Yarber's administration.
"This budget is as barebones as it gets," Yarber said after the council voted 5-2 on a nearly $400 million spending plan Thursday morning.
To close a $15 million deficit, Yarber initially proposed the tax increase along with furloughing most full-time workers one day each month.
Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps and Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes voted against the budget, which still relies on furloughs.
"I don't think we should balance the budget on the backs of the people," Stamps said in the meeting.
Last week, after a very short public hearing last night on the proposed millage rate—the amount per $1,000 used to calculate local taxes on property—the Jackson City Council approved a millage rate of 58.03 with anticipated revenues of $1.14 million per mill.
Nonetheless, the city will rake in at least $926,000 less in property taxes because the overall assessed value of property in Jackson went down, officials said.
Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon, who had been hospitalized, did not attend but participated in the meeting via speakerphone.
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