Jackson County Budget Focus On Accounting For Inflation

Jackson County’s biggest concern heading into the next fiscal year is how to account for inflation.

Mayor Randy Heady said many of their largest capital projects are already in place budget-wise, such as the new county services building and fairground project. He said they have also allocated funds for some other minor capital projects.

“Most of all, the biggest one is going to be an increase in pay to account for inflation across the board,” Heady said. “As we all know, when people go to the grocery store they’re paying considerably more than they’ve paid. And then your normal bills at home are going up.”

Heayd said the budget will also have one-time increases for infrastructure upgrades. He said several county offices are in need of new software and IT systems.

Heady said the new fiscal year budget process starts with making sure the current fiscal year ends in budget. Heady said right now they are in crunch time, making sure all line items are satisfied.

“You know when May comes around, May and June, it gets really busy for counties because you’re trying to put all of that together, you’re trying to make it work,” Heady said. “How are you going to have enough revenue for the budget you need, and what are some things that you want to do that are going to be increases, even if they’re one-time increases how are you going to pay for those. And then recurring costs, are we going to be able to do some salary increases and pay increases in the community, I know that’s something that we need with inflation being where it’s at and we’ve had a lot of talk about that.”