Hernando Alderman Budget Dispute
HERNANDO - Hernando board tables FY27 budget after debt funding dispute
The Hernando Board of Aldermen adopted, then abandoned, its own fiscal 2027 budget on Sept. 2 amid disagreement over debt-financed spending and employee raises.
At the meeting, Alderman Kitchens objected to the draft budget's reliance on borrowing, telling the board "the vast majority of that budget is from paying for with a with uh for a grant match with debt essentially. So that means that twothirds of our um contingency in the current draft is debt." Kitchens said "it would be better to make some actual spending cuts that would make the majority of our contingency not funded by um taking out a bond." A second motion, stripping two new police department positions from the budget, passed 4-3 over objections about police staffing shortages. The board then reversed course, voting to table the entire budget for a special meeting ahead of the state's Sept. 15 filing deadline.
By Kitchens' own account, roughly two-thirds of Hernando's contingency fund would be financed through new borrowing rather than current revenue. The reversal leaves the city without an adopted spending plan as the state deadline approaches.