Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors do not intend to increase taxes but plan to issue bonds for capital improvements.
In order to implement and complete infrastructure projects within the county, the board decided at its capital improvement workshop Thursday that it would issue $7 million worth of bonds during the next budget season. This bond money would not be funded through a tax increase but from revenue generated from the county’s growth.
Lynn Norris of Madison-based Government Consultants presented the board with various proposals for capital improvement plans which ranged from raising taxes to shifting millage around in the budget. Assuming a 2.3 percent growth rate within the county, the board can issue up to seven million dollars of bonds without having to increase or shift the millage.
“The rate we have projected is a conservative rate,” Norris said.
Millage is used to calculate property taxes. For example, a person who owns a $100,000 home without a homestead exemption pays $10 in taxes per mill.
The board had previously discussed shifting millage from different county budgets to fund capital improvements — County Administrator Delois Farmer said she could comfortably move 1 mill from the general fund — but the board opted out of that option and decided it wanted to only fund the plan from generated growth revenue. Supervisors will officially vote at the regularly scheduled board meeting Monday on this plan.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer expressed his support for increasing the millage in order to gain more revenue for the capital improvement fund. He said the need outweighs the challenge and wants to make sure the county is getting the “best bang for its buck.”
District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller both opposed raising taxes because they said they believe the majority of their constituents would not support an increase and the costs to do business is expensive at the moment.
“I represent the taxpayer that is frustrated a lot of times because of how high taxes are,” Montgomery said. “I do not want to put more on them.”
Trainer said if a plan were to pass where millage rates increased and the vote came to 3-2, he did not believe Miller or Montgomery deserved any of the funds because they were not in support of the plan’s passage.
“If we’re going to have a split vote and two people will not support (the plan), then it should not be split five ways,” Trainer said. “It should only be split three.”
Miller said even though the county can increase millage or shift it around, she does not believe now is the time to do so because inflation is extremely high.
“I am cautious about borrowing money at this time because by the time that you get it paid back, what you’ve built with it, which are the roads, already need redoing,” Miller said. “… We went through a bond last time, and the roads that we have already fixed are already crumbling.”
Board President Joe Williams, who represents District 5, ultimately said he would not support a tax increase, and the board decided the best solution would be to issue bonds from current growth revenue rather than shifting millage from different funds.
Use of infrastructure funds
Montgomery, Trainer and Williams all discussed roads in their districts they would like to see fixed. County Administrator Delois Farmer advised the board that these funds do not have to only go to roads but other projects that county needs accomplished, such as the potential county building the board has been considering over the past few months.
“There are other needs in the county as well that we need to keep in mind, such as the new county building,” Farmer said.
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