Months after Mayor John Horhn warned Mississippi’s capital city faced a hefty budget shortfall, a narrow majority of the Jackson City Council refused to formally declare that is the case.
On paper, Jackson has a deficit, but that doesn’t mean the city is truly facing a shortfall this year since the administration took steps to curb spending.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, four of Jackson’s seven council members voted down an order that would have amended the budget for the fiscal year 2026, which ends Sept. 30, in line with a state law requiring municipalities to redo appropriations in the event of lower-than-estimated revenues.
The city’s Department of Finance and Administration had recommended the council adopt the order because Jackson is projected to bring in about $112 million in revenues to its general fund – $23 million less than the $135 million general fund budget the council passed last fall.
Council members who rejected the order argued Tuesday that doesn’t mean the city is short on money, with Ward 1 Council Member Ashby Foote pointing to steps the administration took to successfully keep spending in line with real revenues.
“I’m still not convinced that we’re going to have a deficit, OK?” said Foote, who joined Ward 2 Council Member Tina Clay, Ward 3 Council Member Kenneth Stokes and Ward 4 Council Member Brian Grizzell in opposing the order.
The Jackson City Council meets at City Hall in Jackson on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayThe vote surprised the city’s chief administrative officer, Pieter Teeuwissen, who had been so concerned about Jackson’s general fund that he ordered a citywide hiring freeze.
But the vote came as affirmation to Clay, the previous chair of the city’s Finance Committee who recently led a series of meetings to understand Jackson’s troubled finances.
For months, Clay has said Jackson is not facing a deficit and that the council knew when it passed the $135 million general fund budget that it was an estimate – not a reflection of what the city would actually spend. At Tuesday’s meeting, she nodded vigorously when Foote questioned the need for the order.
“Mr. Foote, I appreciate you, because that’s what I’ve been saying the whole time,” she said. “So no, we don’t really have to do this. It’s just us wanting to do this.”
Council members Kevin Parkinson of Ward 7, Lashia Brown-Thomas of Ward 6 and Vernon Hartley of Ward 5 voted for the order.
“There is a deficit, so we need to pass this,” Hartley said.
Jackson’s city budget is about $330 million, with most of the money dedicated for specific uses. The disagreement focuses on the city’s general fund which is made up of local taxes and can be more flexibly spent.
In December, a consultant estimated the budget the council passed would result in a shortfall if the administration did not make changes to rein in spending. Teeuwissen and the city’s budget office followed suit, with budget documents provided to the council on Tuesday showing Jackson won’t spend more than it takes in this year.
Nonetheless, Parkinson pointed out that the fiscal year 2026 budget still shows the original inflated estimate of $135 million. If the council did not vote for the order, Parkinson fretted, a future audit could flag the city for having a deficit this year.
“We will not have all the revenues that we initially forecasted that we would have when we passed the budget,” he said, adding he believed, “we are therefore required to amend the budget.”
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