City begins new fiscal year “on excellent financial footing”
By Randy Bell
The long process of putting together a spending plan for the new fiscal year drew to a close as the Clinton Board of Aldermen adopted a combined budget at its September 15 meeting.
City Clerk Jimmy Baldree says that includes a $23 million FY27 general fund budget, funded primarily by property and sales taxes, which covers most City functions including police, fire, parks, roads and bridges.
There’s also a $3.3 million special revenue funds budget involving money generated from hotel and restaurant taxes to pay for tourism projects and parks and recreation improvements.
A $16 million capital projects budget is tied to government funding that has been allocated for the Rising Spring development and the Big Black River Wastewater Pipeline project. A $16.3 million enterprise budget covers the Public Works Department and water, sewer and garbage collection services using revenue those services generate. Add to that a $2.8 million debt service budget for the City’s long-term bonds. The combined budget for the fiscal year which began October 1 totals $61.4 million.
“I’m very pleased with this budget and this year’s budget process,” Mayor Will Purdie told the Board moments before the vote was taken. “The City is on excellent financial footing.”
Having been sworn in as mayor in July of 2025, Purdie admits he had to “learn on the fly” in putting together the FY26 budget. This year, he says, the process was simpler.
“I had a much better appreciation, going into it, for what exactly we needed to do,” said Purdie. “I think some of the things we went through and uncovered during last year’s budget [process], certainly informed our approach this year; and we had, I feel, a much better picture going into it of exactly where we were.”
Efforts to hammer out the FY26 budget were complicated by a $1 million shortfall due to excessive fire department overtime and misinformation from county tax officials about the amount of revenue the City would receive from car tags.
The mayor says the new budget gives department heads “essentially all” of what they asked for, while leaving enough money to restructure City employee salaries to bring them more in line with similar jobs across the metro area.
But Purdie points out that staying competitive is like trying to hit a moving target.
“It’s sort of a case of keeping up with the Joneses,” the mayor says. “It’s a never-ending process.”
