Supervisors on Thursday asked three state legislators to support a list of wide ranging initiatives in the upcoming legislative session, including a bill to renew the local 2-percent restaurant sales tax for 10 years and another to allow the county to distribute $1.75 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds among nine nonprofits.

State Sen. Chuck Younger, who represents Dist. 17, along with Dist. 37 Rep. Andy Boyd and Dist. 39 Rep. Dana McLean, attended the meeting to discuss the county’s legislative priorities ahead of the session that will begin in January. All three offered general support for the county’s requests.

Last renewed in 2019, the restaurant sales tax collects 2 percent from prepared food and beverage sales at establishments inside the Columbus city limits that generate at least $100,000 per year from those sales. The tax raises more than $2 million annually, of which the city gets $4000,000 and the county $300,000 for recreation, the Golden Triangle Development LINK gets $250,000 for economic development and the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau gets what’s left to promote tourism.

With the tax set to expire in March, the city and county boards both have passed a unanimous joint resolution seeking a 10-year renewal with the same allocations — a stark contrast to a feud between the two entities that led to the tax being allowed to expire for a year in 2018.

But the challenge this time around is getting the legislature to pass a 10-year extension, when most local and private tax legislation — bills approved only for certain jurisdictions instead of statewide — are typically capped at four years.

“From what I’ve been hearing in the discussions, there needs to be a plan of action for justification,” District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said Thursday. “The city and county will have to get together for a plan of action for why we’re proposing 10 years.

“If y’all see it’s going to be a problem, abort the 10,” he added. “Let’s get the four.”

Board president Trip Hairston, who represents District 2, quickly agreed.

“Yeah, we don’t want it to sunset again,” he said.

While the city is developing plans to use its restaurant sales tax funds for long-term renovations at Propst Park, the county is building a multi-million dollar sportsplex off Highway 82 west of the city, the loan for which will take 12 years to repay.

After the meeting, McLean told The Dispatch she believes efforts like those should provide justification for the 10-year extension.

“It really just makes sense,” she said. “We’ll always need to spend on (recreation) and tourism.”

Both McLean and Younger noted the unanimous joint resolution on the local level strengthens the entities’ position.

“If the council and the supervisors are for it, (as a legislator) you can’t be against it,” Younger said, implicitly offering his support.

Nonprofits, other local and private bills
A local and private bill that would allow the county to distribute ARPA funds to various nonprofits affected by COVID-19 is meant to shore up a gray between the federal program’s intent and state guidelines, officials said.

The county designated $1.75 million in ARPA to be distributed among the local YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, United Way, Golden Triangle Homeless Coalition, Last House on the Block, Habitat for Humanity, Community Counseling, Contact Helpline and Helping Hands.

However, the county also claimed $10 million of it $11.3 million in ARPA funds as revenue loss, meaning it now must be spent on “normal government operations.”

ARPA’s original intent was to address public health issues, negative economic impact (which would include nonprofits) and lost revenue, Ty Hardy with the Horne Group, told supervisors and legislators Thursday. The county has contracted with Horne to advise on ARPA compliance.

“It’s put a little bit of a gray area between the original intent of the ARPA program … and having to look through the lens of what (governments) normally spend their money on,” he said. “So we’re trying to create a marriage between the original intent … and the operations of county government.”

Hairston said the county gives directly to United Way through a measure renewed every three years, but that amount is capped at less than $200,000. Getting local and private legislation to add entities and increasing the dollar amount is a compliance safeguard, he said.

“Even though it’s federal dollars, we want to be on the up and up with the state auditor,” Hairston told The Dispatch.

Supervisors are similarly asking for a local and private bill to allow revenue loss ARPA to be given directly to water and sewer authorities since they do not “normally” get direct appropriations from the county. They also asked for a general statewide bill that would allow rural water districts that also provide sewer service to qualify for ARPA matching funds.

Prairie Land Water, which Hairston said is one of a handful of rural water districts in the state that also provide sewer, is seeking local and state ARPA funds for a $890,000 expansion. Under state rules, rural water services fall under the Department of Health, and that program does not allow systems that offer sewer service to apply for matching funds.

The last local and private request would allow Palmer Home to rent 60 acres of the former Sheriffs’ Boys and Girls Ranch from the county for “nominal rent” so long as the organization provides services to benefit children there. The bill, which is necessary because the rent would be below market value, complies with a chancery court order, which temporarily set the rent at $1 per acre per year and gave Palmer Home a year to provide programs at the site.

Highway 69 sewer
On Thursday, the supervisors also asked legislators to support a direct appropriation toward a $5.5 million project to build out sewer service for 150 homes east of Highway 69 between Columbus and New Hope.

District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, who represents the affected residents, said he had worked with Columbus Light and Water on a partnership for the project, with the utility even providing some pre-engineering work. The partnership fell through ultimately, leading the county to seek federal and state dollars.

“When it rains like it did the last couple of days, they have terrible service in their homes in terms of getting their plumbing to work properly and their septic tanks backing up,” Smith said.

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.