Almost all of the 16 Starkville mayoral and aldermen candidates present at Thursday’s public forum at the Sportsplex agreed the incoming administration will face tough decisions with its budget as it attempts to solve staffing issues within the police and fire departments while also tackling a growing list of infrastructure needs.
How they propose to aggressively fund those needs, however, remains theoretical as candidates called for increasing revenues through attracting new developments and increasing sales tax collections — ideas dependent on investments and actions from outside entities. All stopped short of calling for tax increases that would immediately provide additional financial support to the city.
Mississippi State University’s chapters of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and Zeta Phi Beta sorority presented the candidate forum.
As in previous public forums, incumbents and prospective office holders skirted away from policy specifics and discussed their general visions for Starkville.
The night’s format prevented each candidate from weighing in on the city budget and economic ideas required to bring in more revenue, but many said increasing the city’s general fund remains high on their to-do list in the next four years.
They agreed success with staffing — the number of budgeted Starkville police officers lags behind Columbus and Oxford, and shortages at Fire Station No. 5 prevents it from being fully functional seven days per week — and infrastructure fixes will come if the city grows its tax base and squeezes every penny it receives through ad valorem rates and sales tax receipts.
Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker said the recent run of sales tax growth, spurred by Mississippi State University’s athletic successes and the growth of both the university and city in terms of population, has a ceiling, and investments like the Golden Triangle Development LINK-backed industrial park off Highway 389 are needed to help continue Starkville’s positive economic momentum.
“I’m here to tell you the truth as a politician tonight: (Infrastructure issues do not get) fixed unless you pay for it. During this administration, we did a $3 million bond to get streets fixed; we spent about $7 million on electric infrastructure alone; we spent about $2 million repairing water (infrastructure). All of that is a drop in the bucket,” he said. “I keep hearing all the candidates talk about places to cut in the budget and how we’re going to find all of this money to make these things happen. We could probably find another $75,000 to $100,000 (in the budget with cuts), but what that’s going to get you is about another block worth of asphalt.”
Police department
Aldermen previously approved advertising to fill five empty personnel slots within SPD, and Chief Frank Nichols said Tuesday his department was receiving a steady stream of applications for the positions.
High turnover rates have long plagued SPD, as many officers in the past joined the force, received training through taxpayer funding and moved to other departments for higher wages.
The event’s moderator, Shawn Hannah of WCBI-TV, said Oxford employs about 74 officers, Columbus has about 67 positions and about 60 law enforcement agents work for SPD.
Candidates acknowledged the need for more officers and said community-oriented policing measures could help in the meantime as the city attempts to bolster its ranks.
“When I talked to the police department, they’ve expressed round numbers of maybe $30,000-$40,000 to deploy a new officer. They seem to lose officers at the three- to five-year mark. If we want to continue to grow a good, quality police force … we need to make sure we’re retaining the current (officers),” said Ward 1 Republican candidate Jason Camp. “It all goes back to the budget, and that’s one of the things that will drive this issue and every issue we face. It’s about looking at how we allocate those scarce resources to all of the issues that need to be addressed in the city.”
Thursday’s forum featured mayoral candidates Johnny Moore, Damion Poe and Lynn Spruill; Ward 1 candidates Camp, Ben Carver and Christine Williams; Ward 2 candidates Jesse Carver, Sandra Sistrunk and Lisa Wynn; Ward 4 candidates Walker and Pete Ledlow; Ward 5 candidates Kayla Gilmore, Patrick Miller and Chase Neal; and Ward 7 candidates Roben Dawkins and Henry Vaughn.
Ward 7 candidate Margaret Moore was absent from the event, as were Ward 3 Alderman David Little and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins.
Both Little and Perkins are running unopposed and have effectively secured their re-election bids.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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