Starkville Board of Aldermen vote to furlough city employees and make budget cuts

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – In a 5-2 vote, Starkville Board of Aldermen approved the decision to make budget cuts and furlough city workers Tuesday night.

To help with economic loss since the pandemic, board members said this would help with the city’s budget. However, some citizens don’t agree.

“Department heads don’t get 20% pay raises, they only got like 2% or 3 %. Cut that. You’re going to make them work overtime as it is because you’re cutting personnel,” said Christopher Taylor.

On Tuesday, the board voted to cut the mayor, board of aldermen, and department head salaries.

However, Taylor was worried city employees will now have to do double the work for less pay.

“You’re going to take 20% from me, but you only gave me 20% for the last two or three years, so I’m back to where I started,” said Taylor.

Taylor is a city employee. But by the end of the week, 47 employees will be furloughed.

Although these changes will impact city leaders and workers, there was hope it would improve the city’s budget.

“It’s up to department heads to establish a rational basis for who they selected to stay and who they selected to furlough. In other words, it can’t be a racial reason, or a gender reason or an age-based reason,” said city attorney Chris Latimer.

“None of this is something any of us wanted to do. We are at a critical point and our employees are our greatest asset. For us to have to furlough them is the saddest day that I can think of that we have encountered,” said Mayor of Starkville Lynn Spruill.

The city will begin furloughs on April 24 and it remain until further notice.