VIDALIA — Vidalia officials plan to amend the 2016-17 budget passed by the previous administration during the town’s January meeting.

Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft and several aldermen came into office saying they wanted to get the town’s spending under control, and so far Craft said the town has cut approximately $900,000 in annual payroll and benefits throughout the departments and $250,000 to $300,000 in the marketing department’s advertising budget.

Craft said more cuts are possible, but until a final draft is complete he could not provide specific examples.

“The meetings went fine,” Craft said. “We saved a little bit in some places, and some places are basically going to be the same.

“Until we get our final draft ready, it is hard for me to comment.”

Craft and his team, including Town Manager Bill Murray, Town Accountant Debra Moak, along with a different board of aldermen liaison at each meeting, met with individual department representatives over the past several weeks. The final meeting with town hall and administrative representatives will occur Thursday.

Meetings have included the police, fire, marketing, utilities and the riverfront departments, Craft said.

One note that would not save any money from the department meetings, Craft said, is many employees were misclassified based on the work they were actually doing. For example, Craft said someone was listed under the gas department who should have actually been under the street department.

“We’ve gone in and had to reclassify a lot of employees,” Craft said. “That’s what we are cleaning up now.”

The marketing cuts relate to advertising that had been done in out-of-town newspapers and magazines including Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

“We don’t have the money,” Craft said. “We don’t need to be marketing right now in those areas.”

The marketing department has also been moved from the old chamber of commerce building on Carter Street to the convention center, which will save some money on utilities, Craft said.

Craft said reports will be drafted on each department and provided to each alderman and the public upon request.

“I feel very good about our meetings,” Craft said. “Everyone is working real hard, and we are going to get it down to what it should be.

“We have made a lot of progress in six months. We are excited about the next six months.”

Alderwoman Sabrina Doré said at the town’s December meeting her fellow elected officials should hold questions until the budget meeting for transparency’s sake.

Doré said she believes one reason the old administration was voted out was because of a lack of openness with the community.

Craft said allowing the aldermen to review and ask individual questions before the Jan. 10 meeting, he is simply seeking to avoid a five-hour meeting on the budget, not cut the public out of the process.

Craft said the final drafts should be available sometime after the new year begins.