The Marion County Board of Supervisors got good news Thursday about the county’s finances halfway through its fiscal year.
CPA Charlie Prince said the public can’t tell based on potholes but that there has been “great management” over the past five years.
“You guys have come from borrowing to make it at the end of the year to having a decent balance,” Prince said.
“I tell people that. I say, overall, the roads are in bad shape, but the county’s in good shape,” Supervisor Randy Dyess said.
That led Prince to say they need to now begin working on improving the road funds.
The county issued $3 million in bonds late last year with plans to pay it back using internet sales tax collections that the Legislature agreed to begin giving a portion of to counties and cities during a 2018 special session.
But Prince proposed a different idea Thursday: Raising property taxes to pay back the bonds and using the internet sales tax money to begin fixing bridges now and once all the bridges are complete starting to repair roads.
“That would be, in my opinion, a great plan going forward, and that would be a tax levy that people would actually see a benefit from. When we have to levy for the general fund, the taxpayer can’t see it,” Prince said.
He admitted his thoughts are different from supervisors on a tax increase and said he works for them. But he called it a “unique opportunity” and said supervisors have done a “magnificent job” with management and just need to be sure they get credit for those things and don’t turn a great thing into something to be criticized for.
That was a reference to potential public criticism over a tax increase, especially with 2019 being an election year for supervisors.
Supervisors didn’t express any opinion on Prince’s proposal Thursday, other than confirming Prince’s statement that he would get back to them after talking to Engineer Jeff Dungan about what they can and can’t spend a bond issue on. Prince said he had a question about spending a bond issue on roads. He said he was also going to speak with the State Auditor’s Office.
Prince discussed several aspects of the budget Thursday with supervisors.
On the Marion County Correctional Facility, he said it is good on the expenditure side with 51 percent spent halfway through the budget year.
On the revenue side, the jail has received 43 percent through 50 percent of the year. That leaves a $350,000 deficit, but Prince said, in a detailed discussion, that state reimbursement for housing state prisoners is likely coming to help that figure. The county authorized further study about the revenues to get a better picture of the financial outlook.
Sheriff Berkley Hall and Warden Derek Mingo also met with the board. Hall said other regional correctional facilities are pushing for an across-the-board increase to $29.74 per prisoner per day. He said he’s going to attend a meeting with them with Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall but plans to just listen.
Hall said Marion County already has its state contract in place, while other regional jails are in worse shape because they don’t have contracts.
“We’ve got our contract, so they’ve got to pay us,” Hall said.
That contract states the county receives $23.94 per inmate per day and gets paid for up to 270 prisoners whether it has that many or not.
Hall said they’ve been averaging about 280. The county gets $20 per inmate per day for each prisoner above 270.
Chancery Clerk Cass Barnes noted they have more prisoners working outside the jail now, and Hall confirmed it’s up to about 15, who do things like bushhogging county property and cleaning up inside.
