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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

The Jemison City Council approved the budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year on Oct. 19.

The budget anticipates $4,535,300 in revenue and budgets $4,237,948 in expenses. This includes the water and sewer budget.

The general fund is mostly funded through city sales tax, which is estimated to generate $1.1 million in the coming fiscal year. Total general fund revenue is expected to increase in the coming fiscal year to $1,971,450, up from $1,822,950.

The General Fund budget mostly includes salaries and bills totaling $809,619 in expenses.

The largest expense budget for the city is the police department at $951,540, which has salaries as its largest line item. The budget will increase some this year, up from $845,100 last fiscal year. The expense budget for streets, Fire/ Rescue and court expenses will also increase. The park expense budget decreased slightly.

Since the budgeted expenses are less than the total anticipated revenue, the city expects a surplus of $297,352.

City Clerk Vicki Potts said there were also increases this year to cover offering Tier 1 retirement benefits to those who had previously been Tier 2 and upgrading the city’s computer server.

A new line item in the budget has been created for technology.

“IT software/hardware is a new budgeted line item that includes our various software,” Potts said. “IT maintenance and support costs along with $10,000 budgeted for our server replacement.”

Revenue is also anticipated to increase in the water and sewer budget, following an increase in rates.