The Oktibbeha County School Board has yet to receive a proposal even in the neighborhood of the appraised value of vacant 16th Section land that includes Okitbbeha County Lake, which has been closed to the public since April.
But Superintendent James Covington says he still thinks the board will find someone willing to pay the $45,000 annual rent for the 450-acre property.
“We have had a couple of calls,” he said. “There is definitely some interest there.”
A 25-year recreational lease held by Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks and contracted at $2,500 a year, $0.16 an acre, expired in 2011, but when the 16th Section land was re-appraised early this year at $100 an acre, MDWFP decided not to renew, putting ownership back into the hands of the school district.
MDWFP’s State Lake Coordinator David Berry said the department, which leases several pieces of 16th Section land around the state, has become accustomed to re-appraisals and rent increases, but that the increase on Oktibbeha County’s lease was out of the ordinary.
“We couldn’t (renew) because of the amount of money they were asking for,” Berry said. “Our other leases on 16th Section land have gone up, sure, but not that much.
“This is way, way more than what we have experienced in other parts of the state.”
Last week, the school board, in accordance with the 16th Section Reform Act of 1978, rejected a proposal of $25,000 a year from former Mississippi State University basketball coach Rick Stansbury and John Barnett.
Until 1978, much of the 16th Section land in the state was sold for pennies on the acre under “good ole boy leases,” and in the late 1960s Mississippi was only generating about $3 million a year from the leases.
The 16th Section Reform Act ensures these leases ceased after expiration, and school boards are now guaranteed to generate no less than leases on identical private land, but if county officials responsible for the land, lease it for less than it is appraised, the officials are personally liable to pay the difference to the schools. All 16th Section land is under the general supervision of the secretary of state, and under former Secretary of State Eric Clark, Mississippi was reportedly generating over $50 million annually.
According to 16th Section Land Manager for the OCSB, Mike Ainsworth, these guidelines were applicable when the MDWFP originally leased the Oktibbeha County Lake land under recreational use in 1986, but there was no rent adjustment in the contract. Ainsworth said the lease stated the MDWFP must pay $2,500 annually and/or report 59 percent of all gross receipts from revenue generated if it was more than the rent.
The OCSB never received a report of the revenue being collected by the MDWFP, but Berry said they always ended up paying more than $2,500.
“To my knowledge we never paid the $2,500 a year,” he said. “Sometimes it could have been as much as $5,000 a year, but it just varied year to year depending on the sale.”
Regardless of what the rent ended up being from year to year, Berry said the MDWFP, who charge $7 to put a boat in a state lake and fish all day, never made any money.
Even so, the OCSB will not, and legally cannot, accept anything less than the appraised value on the land. Ainsworth, who manages 16th Section land for a number of school districts, pointed to Noxubee County and the Land of Lakes as an example of what can happen when appraisals are disputed.
“We came in, got a re-appraisal done, and it was set at $55,000 a year on maybe about 215 acres,” he said. “Land of Lakes challenged the appraisal and we won in court. Their original lease was $3,086, but it’s the law.”
If no satisfactory proposals are brought forward, then the board’s only other option, according to Ainsworth, would be to offer hunting and fishing leases on the land. These leases would be shorter term than the 25-to-40-year lease OCSB would be looking for if the land were to be developed.
But Covington said the proposed use of the land is as high a priority as getting the minimum appraised value.
“We would like to see the lake open to the public, but we want ideas as to what could happen. We have heard ideas about amusement facilities like water slides, boat ramps and a beach area,” he said. “We have entertained all types of potential proposals, we just want to make sure the use will benefit the county.”
Those who use the lake seem to agree that keeping the lake is the best bet. Matt Nicholas and Kendra Jennette, students from MSU, who have been fishing at the lake for the past four months said they did not know about the ownership limbo the land is experiencing, but did realize something was going on when the gate was closed and locked when they came to fish one day.
There are now “No Trespassing,” signs scattered around the perimeter of the park area, but the signs haven’t stopped Nicholas and Jennette, or others for that matter, who still fish the lake.
“We have been coming here since like March or something,” Nicholas said. “There wasn’t always a sign up, we used to come down and put the boat in. We would definitely rather see it kept open though, we have just kind of been waiting for the day someone comes and gets mad at us.”
A man, who lives across the spillway from the lake and used to swim in it as a boy, said even though he rarely uses the lake these days, he would still like to see it remain publicly open.
“Even if I don’t use it all the time, a lot of people enjoy coming out here to fish, and we have family reunions and stuff out there, birthdays and picnics,” he said. “It’s pretty convenient for the public.”
If a single entity cannot afford to lease the entire property, Ainsworth said the school board could carve up the land into different sections and lease them out separately, as long as each section goes for $100 an acre.
“You can separate that acreage out to several entities and still accomplish the school district receiving appraised value,” Ainsworth said.
The county could possibly take on one of these separated leases if it came down to it, but Covington said no formal talks with the county board of supervisors have taken place.
Going back to the recently rejected proposal, Ainsworth added that Stansbury and Barnett not only fell nearly $20,000 short of the appraised value, but also asked for the property tax to be subtracted from the rent and suggested a $5,000 increase in rent every decade. Neither of these stipulations can be met by the OCSB, again, due to regulations set forth by the 16th Section Reform Act, which calls for a mandatory re-appraisal every 10 years.
Ainsworth remains optimistic about the possibilities of someone meeting the lease requirements, but knows it could be a waiting game. He acknowledged that each party involved has its own angle.
“We have only had it advertised for two or three months, so it hasn’t been long at all,” he said. “But the school board has a position where they want to keep peace with the public, and public officials want to look good in the press so they get re-elected. And I am the land manager that has to make sure the school collects fair market rent based on the appraisal.”
Proposal submissions are currently being accepted and should be addressed to the Okitbbeha County School Board.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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