If not now, when?
That was the question Tony Hannah and Caleb Pounders asked a standing-room-only crowd at the New Hope Community Center Monday night during a town hall meeting about incorporation.
Hannah and Pounders have been gathering information and talking to residents since at least last year, and held last night’s meeting to see how interested the community is in the idea of making “New Hope, Mississippi” an official place.
Pounders and Hannah made their pitch and fielded questions for about two hours. Although there were many questions and some resistance, the atmosphere remained cordial.
The pitch
The area currently under consideration is bounded by Highway 182, the state line, and Armstrong, Hildreth and Hughes roads, stopping just north of First Colony. It includes about 7,500 people in parts of District 3 and District 4.
In order for the incorporation to succeed, at least two-thirds of the approximately 5,600 registered voters in the affected area must sign a petition, Pounders explained. It will eventually go before a chancery judge, who will decide whether or not the effort satisfies all the legal requirements placed on a new city.
People can object to incorporation, just like they can object to annexation, Pounders said. Other nearby cities get a voice, too.
“Any municipality within three miles of the boundary have the option to block it,” Pounders said. “We fall within that distance (from Columbus) and they have the option to try to block incorporation.”
Columbus is currently weighing whether to annex areas just east of the city, which are on the margins of the New Hope community. At least some county residents are looking to incorporate as a form of self-defense.
But incorporation means more taxes, Pounders said, and the biggest question he and Hannah have received is what it will cost residents. After working with Tax Assessor Greg Andrews, Pounders said New Hope’s hypothetical city tax rate will come to around 11.11 mills.
That means residents will pay $111.60 per $100,000 of assessed value, in addition to the Lowndes County and Lowndes County School District taxes.
“There’s $334 million of assessed value in that map,” Andrews said. “(The potential incorporated area) would be about $36,000 per mill.”
By comparison, Pounders said, the tax levy in Caledonia is 13.5 mills; Artesia is 33.89 mills; Crawford is 43.89 mills; and Columbus is 54.11 mills.
That money would be necessary to stand up city administration and services, he said. Plans call for a mayor and five-person board of aldermen, as well as a public works department and building regulation and code enforcement department.
“We will still utilize Lowndes County’s road department,” Pounders said. “However, the public works department the city would have would be in addition to what the county provides. That can be as simple as picking up trash and trimming trees.”
Law enforcement of some kind is also required, Pounders said, but that doesn’t mean the city would have to establish a marshal’s department.
“We could contract with the (Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office) to provide an extra officer that would be designated for the New Hope area,” Pounders said. “… That would be much less expensive, because a marshal’s office means we have to also provide a court system and a judge.”
The city would also need to consider additional fire protection.
“Right now we have the volunteer fire department,” Pounders said. “We currently have a fire rating of Class 7. It’s not required, but it would be possible to man a fire station (with paid full-time employees) here at some point that could improve the fire rating from a Class 7 to a Class 5.”
Fire ratings are set by the Mississippi State Rating Bureau and are based on response times, training, available equipment, record keeping and emergency communication, among other factors. The lower the rating, the better the service.
Pounders said everyone in the area will have to come to their own conclusions about what the future holds, but he had some ideas about what an incorporated community could look like.
“Better infrastructure, like sidewalks and street lights,” Pounders said. “… I can see a walkable downtown district, and that would also make it more attractive for small businesses to start developing in this area, shops, restaurants, whatever the case may be.”
Concerns about losing personal freedoms surrounding fireworks and hunting, for example, are not warranted, Pounders said. New Hope can incorporate without affecting those issues.
“That is not against the law in Mississippi,” Pounders said. “I like shooting fireworks and hunting, and that’s not something I would like to see taken away. New Hope is the epitome of small-town living, and to me, hunting and fireworks go along with that.”
‘If I get something, I don’t mind (taxes)’
Former supervisor Mike Smith said he is “totally against” incorporation.
“What’s the benefit for us?” Smith asked. “It seems like it’s just about raising people’s taxes, and I’m not in favor of raising taxes. … There is no benefit today or next year to do what they’re talking about doing.”
Smith said he didn’t think the area was in any danger of being annexed by Columbus.
“They want to go across the river to the industrial park and get those dollar bills out of big industries,” Smith said.
Clint Hanson disputed the idea that fire ratings would improve if New Hope incorporated.
“It takes a whole lot more than just adding on full-time firemen,” Hanson said. “You’ve got to have the infrastructure for it. If we separate out our own fire district, there’s a possibility we would have to build another station.”
Dale Nelson questioned how heavily the new city would be regulated.
“With incorporation comes regulation,” Nelson said. “… It’s already started. If you look on Facebook today somebody posted, ‘I’m all for incorporation if it’ll stop my neighbor from burning leaves.’ People already want ordinances to stop burning, or stop shooting in the yard.”
Nelson said he wasn’t against incorporation if it brought benefits.
“If I get something for those tax dollars, I don’t mind it,” Nelson said. “But I don’t want to pay higher taxes to have what I already have right now and it not get any better.”
For more information on the New Hope incorporation drive, go to facebook.com/incorporationofnewhope.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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