A rose to the Columbus Municipal School District and its board of trustees, who will not be asking for an increase in local taxes this year. Although the 2021 budget, approved this week by the board, will fall short of estimated expenses by about $3.2 million, the board said it will cover the shortfall primarily by dipping into its reserve funds and borrowing from its capital improvement funds. This comes at a time when the Lowndes County School District has announced its intentions to ask for an additional $5.5 million in local tax money. We note that as recently as five years ago, the two district’s financial statues were in almost direct opposite conditions. We applaud the hard work the CMSD has done to put its financial house in order. The district is proving to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That should not go unnoticed and certainly not unappreciated.
A rose to Matt Bogue and Dutch Oil for another great example of civic pride. Drivers along Highway 45 in front of Leigh Mall have probably noticed that the old convenience store/gas station is being refurbished after having remained vacant and deteriorating for the past five years. Like the mall itself, it had become a visual symbol of decay. What’s especially impressive is that Bogue said the company has no plans for the site. Rather, the company just wanted to turn it from blight to bright. The company also removed the underground fuel tanks, which might have represented an environmental problem at some point. We applaud Dutch Oil for cleaning up a property at their own expense. We consider it a public service and an example of how our businesses can shape how our city is perceived. We’d like to see much more of this in Columbus.
A rose to George Irby, who was presented with the Paul Coggin Trailblazer Award during last week’s Main Street Columbus awards luncheon. The award is presented each year by the Mississippi Main Street Association to a Main Street member or volunteer for long-time service. It’s essentially the state-wide organization’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” and Irby is the third Columbus recipient in the award’s history. Any attempt to list all that Irby has contributed to our community over the years would certainly end in omissions. Suffice to say, whether it is behind the scenes as a volunteer or as an active board member, Irby always seems to be there when civic projects emerge. We congratulate George for this well-deserved honor.
A rose to the West Lowndes 4-H Club and its partners, for Saturday’s drive-through mask giveaway. The club distributed about 300 packages containing masks donated by the Mississippi State Department of Health. The project was also supported by the club’s sponsors, 4-County Electric Power Association and Clark Beverages. The giveaway, staged at the Artesia Community Center, took the place of the walk/health fair event that was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We applaud the club’s efforts to re-tool their service project to meet the unique needs of the times. We also believe it underscores the valuable lessons 4H membership provides children ages 7 to 17 in our community, including the emphasis on community service.
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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