Meridian city council votes to approve 2020-2021 budget

This morning in Meridian, at a special called meeting, the city council approved a $35.7 million general fund budget for the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year.

Regarding the amount of money some of the city’s departments were allocated, the police department will have a budget of $9.2 million, the fire department’s budget will be around $7.7 million, and parks and recreation has a budget of $2.6 million. Three city council members voted for the approval of the 2021 fiscal year budget, Councilwoman Fannie Johnson abstained, and Councilman Weston Lindemann voted against the approval of the budget.

“I presented information last year, as we were going through budget talks, that show that we had about $5 million in excess in the budget, meaning money that wasn’t going to be spent, still had to be appropriated that much money, right. So, we did the same thing again this year, and we do this knowingly. So, we have a lot of long-range planning, and no real attention to the city’s finances throughout the year,” said Ward 5 Councilman Weston Lindemann.

With the budget now set, the new fiscal year begins on Thursday, October 1.