After the annexation of parts of the county by the city, the Marion County Board of Supervisors has a long list of items to tackle, including how the annexation will affect the county's bottom line.
At the Marion County Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 8, County Engineer Jeff Dungan notified the board of the many things that must be done following the annexation that removed more than 900 and more than 600 houses with garbage bins.
The solid waste losses could end up being about $108,000, but operating costs won't decrease for the county. According to Charlie Prince, county CPA, the city will take over trash service on April 1, which will result in a 10% loss in garbage pickup for the county. About 718 solid waste accounts were affected by the annexation with about 417 active as of last week and about 311 closed or suspended.
There was discussion of cutting back to two trucks instead of three, which would cut three employees. Board members said they would hate to do that, and they will look for other ways to cut costs.
Income on tags will fall as well. There were questions about how taxes can be changed in the middle of the year when budgets are done by September of the previous year. It was noted that in a previous Attorney General ruling, and in MS Code 21133, as soon as an annexation is effective, a city can begin collecting on car tags.
David Rankin, county geographic information system consultant, reported specific numbers to the board on Feb. 10. Nearly 700 physical addresses changed in the annex, and that includes 340 active garbage bills. The city annexed 6.7 square miles for total of 11.2 sq. miles. About 40 parcels were split, 29.2 miles across 78 county roads were annexed and 8.9 state highway miles were taken in by the city. As far as splits go, Rankin said Friendship Church Road is the most complicated with seven combinations making it more difficult for dispatching and maintenance.
Rankin said his first priority was to generate a list to ID all 9-1-1 addresses to flag those annexed because emergency services are critical. Some of 653 addresses identified are vacant, but he said you never throw away a 9-1-1 address.
The next step for Rankin is to complete a solid waste list to flag who belongs to county and who belongs to city.
A letter was mailed by the Marion County Tax Assessor on Feb. 10 to all residents with property in the annexed area. The letter stated the annexation will affect property taxes and mobile home taxes on the 2022 Property Tax Bill to be paid on or before Feb. 1, 2023. Those statements will be mailed in November 2022.
Motor vehicle tag changes took effect on Tuesday. Any renewal notification received for February 2022 and paid on or after Tuesday will be affected. The confusion about vehicle tag tax amounts will be due to the fact that the tax cards that are mailed to residents are generated on the 15th of the previous month and, therefore, will not reflect the change due to annexation. Vehicle tag prices will increase for those residents in the annexed areas.
Marion County Tax Assessor/Collector Teresa Terrell is asking that affected residents call the office at (601) 736-8256 to ensure the correct amount of their tag renewal because the amounts on their cards will not be correct.
Any questions regarding the city annexation should be addressed to City Hall at (601)736-8201.
