By Katie Northcott, News Director
At its meeting on Tuesday, June 16, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) passed its Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget on its second and final reading.
The budget passed with no discussion with a 5-1 vote (Alderman Julie Anderson opposed). The budget is balanced and introduces no tax rate increase. Total expenditures are projected at $21,030,709, which means the budget is balanced at $2,509 in the black.
Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs made a statement about the budget at the BOMA meeting on May 5. In his May 5 statement, Hobbs highlighted that the city’s sales and property tax revenue is projected to increase three to five percent over the next year.
The budget reflects about an $880,000 increase in local tax revenue. Local property tax revenue is projected to increase from $5,476,756 to $5,686,291 from FY26. Local sales tax revenue is projected to increase from $7,033,683 to $7,552,101.
State sales tax revenue is projected to increase from $1,623,000 to $1,890,275, and miscellaneous revenues increased from $104,366 to $525,000. The budget also projected that Bonnaroo property permits would bring in $206,625, which is an increase from last year when Bonnaroo was canceled.
Total projected revenue increased from $20,174,376 to $21,033,218. The increase comes even though Manchester saw an extra $1,150,000 in extra revenue from sale of a property last year.
In his May 5 statement, Hobbs said that the city’s highest expenditures are employee-related costs. He said that the city’s employee turnover rate has decreased from 35% to less than 10% during FY26, attributing the change to updates in the city’s classification and compensation plan.
Hobbs said that the city’s FY27 budget will feature continued investment in city employees. Full-time city employees will see six to eight percent pay increases. The city will also cover rising health care costs to prevent increases in employee health care premiums.
In the draft budget, personnel expenses changed from FY26 as follows:
- Board of Mayor and Aldermen Personnel: $297,106 to $357,786
- Financial Administration Personnel: $643,542 to $1,096,525 (Finance was combined with another department)
- Information Systems Personnel: $389,374 to $217,640
- Planning and Zoning Personnel: $432,539 to $628,734
- General Government and Building Personnel: $6,500 to $6,500
- Police Department Personnel: $3,746,606 to $4,123,284
- Fire Department Personnel: $2,991,187 to $2,847,814
- Public Works Personnel: $1,946,522 to $2,492,238
The Coffee County Library and Manchester/Coffee County Conference Center were not listed as receiving funding under “Contributions to Other Agencies”. The library was allocated $20,000 on the past two budgets. The Conference Center was allocated $291,535 in FY25 and $175,000 in FY26.
The budget passed on its first reading at a previous meeting of the BOMA on June 2. Discussion at the budget work session prior to the June 2 BOMA meeting centered on the approval of a $20 million bond to fund Water & Sewer Department projects.
Find more reporting on the budget’s first reading here.
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