STARKVILLE — If citizens were in the dark about the police department bond issue, their questions were answered Monday night.
The Starkville Tea Party held a nonpartisan, question-and-answer session regarding the $8.45 million bond issue, which is set for citywide referendum on Sept. 27, at the Starkville SportsPlex.
Moderator Sid Salter read questions that were screened by Republican, Democratic and Libertarian college clubs, as city government officials and the Municipal Complex Citizen’s Committee took turns answering during the two-hour session.
About one-third of the questions, particularly about the millage-rate increase and the distinction between Phase 1 (police station) and Phase 2 (city hall renovation), had already been addressed during public hearings, open houses and through the master plan website.
Citizens came prepared, though, questioning the cost effectiveness of the location, the impact on citizens who don’t own property and the current drainage issues of the proposed site at Jackson Street and Highway 182.
Questions were gathered before the session from the nearly 85 people who attended, while some were taken via email.
“There were some very good, very specific questions tonight,” Starkville Police Chief David Lindley said. “We’re glad that there’s this amount of interest. The quality of the questions (were) exceptional. What we wanted to do is get the information out so people can make their minds up.”
Citizens will vote on a bond issue for a new police station for the second time in five years next Tuesday. The bond issue needs 60-percent “yes” votes to pass; the complex had 59.23 percent of the voters backing it in the September 2006 election.
Residential property owners will face a 3.49-mill increase that equates to $35 per every $100,000 of home value each year. Commercial property owners will pay $52.50 for every $100,000 of property value. People who are disabled or over the age of 65 will pay just $10 per every $100,000 each year.
Though the bond issue will only directly affect property owners, people who rent apartments or homes could face higher rent from landlords, who could adjust rent at their own discretion.
Also, there will be $1 added to car tag fees for every $10,000 of the worth of the vehicle.
If passed, the bond debt will paid off in 20 years.
Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman and Alderman Jeremiah Dumas stressed the importance of the location to help revitalize Highway 182. As part of the master plan laid out by a Mississippi Main Street Association charrette team, the police station at Jackson Street and Highway 182 would give an aesthetic boost to a throughway that isn’t reaching its economic potential.
Several questions suggested a location near the Highway 82 bypass or in a currently vacant building would have been cheaper.
The citizens’ committee considered 20 different properties, including one on Reed Road that would have “potentially” been donated to the city, Wiseman said. However, that property’s rugged terrain would have cost more to develop. Additionally, the property only had one entrance, while the proposed location has two.
Citizens’ committee member Nick Wilson said there were cheaper properties considered, but the committee settled on the $1.06 million site because it was available, fit with the master plan and was easy to develop.
“There really has never been much of a debate over whether we’ve had to have a new police building,” Wiseman said. “But there’s been a wide range on how and where. There’s really no right or wrong answer, but citizens seemed to indicate in previous bond issues that they wanted city government downtown.
“We viewed in comparison to centrally located prices, and the asking price of seller was among the cheapest,” Wiseman said. “And it was only one of two sites looked at that had two points of ingress and egress.”
Wiseman reminded the audience that Starkville, the 15th-largest city in the state of Mississippi, has the lowest millage rate of the top 25. The average of the top 25 is 16 mills higher than Starkville’s millage rate of 20. Starkville spends 53 percent of its annual budget on public safety, while only allocating 23 percent of ad valorem tax dollars to public safety.
“We want to be a low-tax community, but not at the expense of fulfilling basic functions, such as public safety,” Wiseman said.
Lindley reminded the public of the demoralizing effect the current facilities have had on his force, which has lost seven officers since January. He said officers are “voting on foot” — leaving the force because of inadequate booking space, processing labs and evidence storage.
“The rubber band is stretched, and it’s affecting you all,” Lindley said. “That’s not something to scare everyone, but we’re short detectives, narcotics and patrol officers. We are barely making it.”
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