Happy New Year, Muscle Shoals, from Lockhard & Walters

 

Times Daily readers have been forewarned. Mayor Lockhard’s boss Brittny Walters City Clerk has set forth their latest agenda. SPEND AND TAX MORE. Brittny Walters is the spokesperson for the out of control people running the city. For those who don’t read the Times Daily, this is the recap.

In 1992 the city council form of government began.
The city council met TWO TIMES A MONTH.   The compensation was $700.00 PER MONTH.

In 2025 the city council meets TWO TIMES A MONTH.  The compensation is $700.00 PER MONTH.

Mayor Lockhard makes $90,168 PLUS YEARLY COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT and benefits.

Councilmembers requested further research to compare compensation with SIMILAR CITIES.

Mr. Lockhard’s boss and spokesperson, Brittny Walters went on to state that Jalen Johnson, Human Resources Director, is expected to research salaries from the cities of Florence, Athens, Tuscaloosa and Cullman.

Now, the following comes from someone who isn’t quite as smart as this Brittny Walters, Mike Lockhard and the clowns on the city council that are paid $700.00 for TWO MEETINGS A MONTH.

1. The last MSC budget had a surplus of ONLY $1700.00.
2. The anticipated surplus was after massive cuts to the police department and library among other things.- what other city services will be cut/reduced  - OR - how much will our taxes and fees be increased ?
3. Recently, the EARMARKED FLOOD CONTROL fund was robbed and reduced in half for the City Council to have $2.7 million dollars to bale out their financial woes in other areas.
4. 2 NEW VEHICLES have been bought in the last 12 months for the CITY CLERK office - that is another $90,000.00+. (The post office and bank is next door, although her doctor, restaurants and ballgames are out of town)
5.Ms. Walters said that work will be completed by HR Director Jalen Johnson, who is expected to research salaries from the cities of FLORENCE, ATHENS, TUSCALOOSA and CULLMAN.

I don’t know how many of you people have been to those 4 cities, but I have and the 2024 populations of what Ms. Walters considers “similar cities” are as follows:
‘
FLORENCE ...........................43,057
ATHENS ................................32,636
TUSCALOOSA ................... 113,711
CULLMAN ........................... 20,407
and
MUSCLE SHOALS ...............17,491

Clearly, Ms. Walters doesn’t understand the definition of “similar”.  Granted, she and Mayor Lockhard are not natives of Muscle Shoals and clearly don't have the backgrounds or expertise to perform the duties adequately. Even though the mayor and council give her full reign to run the city, they just hide from the citizens and press, but do show up for meetings occasionally. We have not only a TAX & SPEND but also a “Just here for the paycheck” council.

If you try to find the City Check Registers on the city website - you won’t. You may find a one page budget that Ms. Walters has prepared. That is probably all Mr. Lockhard and the council can understand, but there should be comprehensive details including chart of account numbers for those who do understand budgeting.

There is so much more to this sad story of tax & spend politicians. Digest this for a little while and we will talk again soon.