Lowndes County is one of 20 counties in Mississippi that will see substantial savings on aerial mapping photography by entering into a mutual agreement with state legislators and Mississippi Department of Transportation.
County tax assessor Greg Andrews said 10-year fly-overs for mandatory mapping were last done for about $118,000 in Lowndes County, meaning new ones are not required until 2017. By entering into this agreement now, however, the cost for new fly-overs would cost $40,125 and the county would have the new comprehensive property data and images by the end of the year.
Supervisors unanimously agreed to the proposal. Missouri-based Surdex will do the fly-overs for all 20 counties.
“We’ll be kind of in the back end of the 20 counties, but that’s good because a lot of counties are needing it now,” Andrews said. “We don’t actually need it for another two years but we’re going ahead and joining this so it will save us $78,000 in the long run.”
County appraiser Pat Adair said once the contract is satisfied MDOT will draft a memorandum the county can use to apply for grant funding to offset the cost even more — possibly up to $10,000.
Andrews said Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties are also involved in the agreement.
County receives clean audit
Board president Harry Sanders informed supervisors of a letter and certificate recently received from state auditor Stacey Pickering stating the county’s most recent audit had no findings of material weaknesses in internal controls or purchasing. Sanders commended chief financial officer Davis Basinger and county administrator Ralph Billingsley on their upkeep of financial records.
“They don’t give this to just anybody,” Sanders said. “They give this award to just a few counties that don’t have problems.”
In other business, the board approved:
■ AT&T permit requests for fiber optic cable on Carson and Nashville Ferry roads;
■ A $158,976 invoice from Osborne Construction Company for expansion of the Mississippi Steel Processing plant. Funding comes from a Community Development Block Grant;
■ Invoices from Weathers Construction Company of $404,178 and $173,257 as well as one from Calvert Spradling Engineers for $115,160. The invoices are for renovation of a spec building which will house the CalStar sustainable building material plant. Funding comes from a 20-year, $5.35 million loan through the Mississippi Development Authority.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
