VIDALIA — Vidalia aldermen finally adopted Tuesday night a roughly $40 million operating budget for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year — two months after the previous fiscal year ended — though the decision was not without some opposition from board members.

A summary of the budget, prepared by the town accountant Debra Moak, shows projected revenue of $42,578,800 over $39,546,930 in projected expenditures for this fiscal year.

The summary further states that the town has a beginning fund balance of $22,711,179 and a projected ending fund balance of $25,743,049.

No change is planned for ad valorem taxes, said Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft after the meeting, with the rate of 3.31 mills. Meanwhile, Craft said area residents are already being impacted by a change in their utility rates.

Craft said residents will pay less for their electricity and slightly more for water, which should allow residents to collectively save $300,000 on their utilities overall. “We’ve made good reductions in our operating budget, and I’m excited,” Craft said.

The vote to approve the budget passed 3-2 after a heated argument ensued from the aldermen, which lasted approximately two hours.

Aldermen Triand McCoy, Tommy Probst and alderwoman Sabrina Doré all said during the argument that Craft had been non-receptive of any requests they brought to the table. The argumenth ended with McCoy and Probst voting against the budget.

“I asked for two things last week to be considered, but they never got any consideration,” Probst said.

Probst said his first request was either for the board to review an ordinance change regarding the Vidalia dog pound or to give the police department full control of the facility.

Probst argued that the facility was being run like an animal shelter rather than a dog pound while the town has an outdated ordinance stating that animals could be housed up to seven days before they are euthanized.

“This is not only a budget item, but this is an ordinance that has been put in place that I’ve been asking to review,” Probst said. “I’ve asked and asked about it, and I’ve given a solution.”

Furthermore, Probst said he requested a change regarding the Vidalia Convention Center, which Craft said costs the city approximately $250,000 each year to keep open.

“We need to reduce our budget so we’re not spending that kind of money on (The Convention Center),” Probst said.

McCoy said Craft had not been transparent with the board on all of the town’s business affairs.

“Mr. Craft claims that he is transparent on all things,” he said. “There is no transparency with this board. We’ve been told before coming to this meeting ‘I can’t tell you right now, but it’s coming and because of confidentiality I can’t tell you.’”

McCoy said, in example, he did not know $8 million from the sale of the old Fruit of the Loom facility to Vidalia Denim would be held in trust by Natchez Inc., which would be paid back to the company if they met certain benchmarks.

“The Mayor doesn’t want to make any concessions,” McCoy said. “At what point do we have to bite the bullet? … He should have been presenting this budget every month.”

“Was there not a meeting where you approved (the $8 million)?” Craft said to McCoy in retaliation. “It was given to you in a packet and you voted on it. Do you not remember that?”

Doré said several line items could be adjusted in the budget and that the Convention Center should either break even or turn a profit rather than be a leak in the budget every year.

She issued a statement after the meeting regarding her vote to approve the budget, which said the following: “I did not vote yes because I think this is the best budget. I believe that much more could be done to give back to the residents of Vidalia and to protect the essential employees of this town. I voted yes simply because I did not want a single employee to fear the threat that they would not be paid as a result. No one should have to go through Christmas wondering if they have a job in January. I hope everyone can take a deep breath and enjoy the holidays with their families and loved ones.”

No other action was taken during Tuesday’s meeting.