McComb’s city board rejected a $9.5 million bond issue for city street and park projects Tuesday, voting 3-2 to rescind the proposal that it had approved last month.
The proposal, originally passed by a 4-2 vote at a July 8 board meeting, would have put $2 million into the city’s general fund to replace money already spent on the city’s sports park complex. It would have also assigned an additional $2.7 million to complete the McComb Sports Park, $2 million for street overlays and more for upgrades to recreational facilities.
Touted as a way to engage youths and draw tourism and economic development through infrastructure investment, the initial vote garnered support from selectmen Melvin Joe Johnson, Bob Maddox, E.C. Nobles and Robert Earl Smith. Selectmen Danny Esch and Wade Lamb dissented.
Nobles and Maddox, however, joined Lamb on Tuesday in opposing the bond issue, citing concerns about the city’s financial condition. Esch, who is recovering from a heart attack suffered after the July 8 meeting, was absent.
The reversal on Tuesday came shortly after representatives from a group calling itself Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility told the board they had gathered 1,432 signatures on a petition calling for a referendum on the bond.
Discussion centered on that petition and recent city job cuts, with Nobles stating those factors and broader economic conditions had convinced him the city needed to rethink its proposal.
“The fact that we have the amount of 1,432 people that do not want this … shows that the majority of the citizens of this city right now are not in favor of this bond issue,” Nobles said.
He also noted the possible cost of a special election and tax increases from a countywide property value reappraisal.
“I don’t think that the citizens … will be able to swallow this burden right now.”
Mayor Zach Patterson questioned the relevance of some of those factors, reminding Nobles of Patterson’s position that job cuts are less a budget issue than an effort to restore efficiency to a bloated city payroll.
“What is it that layoffs have to do with this?” Patterson asked.
“It makes no sense to have layoffs in recreation and we’re passing a recreational bond,” Nobles replied.
“The bond is for capital improvements,” Patterson responded.
The mayor also asked how the cost of a special election could be used to justify silencing voters, when the referendum could be inserted into the November general election ballot.
“Your comment about 1,400 voters indicating to you a majority … I don’t think it’s anywhere indicative of the majority,” Patterson said. “That’s why we have a referendum.”
City board members continued to disagree about the wisdom of the bond, even after its defeat.
Patterson, for example, in his “Mayor’s Chat” after the board meeting, expressed disappointment and regret that other options had not been offered by the proposal’s opponents.
“Some of the comments that I heard here made no sense to me,” Patterson said, referencing cash flow concerns. “The first payment wouldn’t be due until the year 2012 and possibly 2013.”
He argued Tuesday’s vote amounted to a setback for the city’s continued growth.
“I’m very much interested in the city moving forward,” Patterson said. “I want you to take a look at what we planned to do up here and where we planned to take this city. … Take a look at the dream that was there. … Quite often I get stalled out with no courses of alternative action. … You even saw in the paper where the editor said, ‘I think these things should go to a vote.’ ”
When local NAACP head Anthony Witherspoon also weighed in during the chat, saying he was concerned about the final say on the matter being removed from the public’s hands, Patterson had a directed response as well.
“Ensuring the vote is part of our job,” Witherspoon said. “We got denied an opportunity to vote on the issue tonight.”
“You had a chance to vote when you elected that selectman,” Patterson replied. “These gentlemen made a choice for you. … Those who may influence the situation in a meeting before the meeting are the people that are shorting the democratic process.”
Johnson, meanwhile, added a pitch to keep the city focused on some of the projects within the proposal, such as street overlays, saying he was specifically concerned with congested traffic on Parklane Road in his ward.
“I thought it would be good for the community,” Johnson said. “Kids were coming to meetings with their skateboards. They really thought that was a done deal. … Maybe (selectmen) changed because they didn’t know about the cuts in the personnel of the city (in advance). … I guess we’ll just have to keep pushing little by little … until we’re able to do each park a little at a time.”
Lamb, though, said the economic impact of the bonds would not have matched the debt incurred.
“All the projects outlined in the bond proposal were worthwhile projects,” Lamb said. “But what you’ve got here in my opinion, the city currently can’t afford this. … Street overlays financed over 20 to 25 years don’t make sense. You wouldn’t finance a car for 10 years because in 10 years the car won’t be running.
“We’re in a budget-cutting mode and we’re laying off people, and it will be harder to ever give another raise to a city employee, to hire more police, to hire more firemen … because we’ll have debt payments. … Most people don’t want to see taxes increase and city services decrease. That’s a losing proposition,” Lamb said.
He added that he couldn’t speculate when the city could afford such projects because it would depend on future city needs.
“There are many cities around who do not have neighborhood parks in every neighborhood,” he said. “The McComb Sports Park has been built for everybody in McComb to use. Granted, you’ll have to travel to it … But when you take on a project of that magnitude, it doesn’t leave you a lot of money in the budget to go into every neighborhood and build another park.”
As for Maddox and Nobles, the pair said their votes didn’t reflect a change of heart about the projects in the proposal, but rather a feeling that they might need to be addressed in a different way.
“It’s kind of hard to be laying off people and then going for a bond issue,” Maddox said. “But the bond issue had some mighty good things in it. … They still need to be finished … It’s not dead, it’s just something that we need to look at a little later.”
Nobles added that there were several structural issues to be addressed as well.
He said he would have preferred a public hearing be held before the proposal was voted through. He said improvements budgeted for fields behind the MLK Center were on land for which the city could have difficulty gaining ownership. And he argued that had the bond been defeated in a referendum, it would be much more difficult to get such projects done at a later date, even with more funds available.
“I supported it initially because I had three projects in my ward: The East McComb activities field, the sports park and Higgins field,” Nobles said. “But my phone has blown up. … I was wanting to be able to explain to my constituents how we’re going to pay for this … and (Patterson) was yet to explain. … Are we going to pass around a plate?”
Nobles also emphatically denied any meetings before the meeting to alter his opinion.
“I would like for the mayor to do a poll,” Nobles said. “He can come to my ward and ask my constituents what they think about his bond issue. The only meeting that I had was with concerned citizens. None of the selectmen got together and said ‘Hey, we’re going to kill this.’ ”
Representatives of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility added that they were simply grateful to petition signees for their help.
“I think the petition generated a lot of concern about what the board of mayor and selectmen are doing, and hopefully it will put the board on notice that they do have somebody to answer to after all — the citizens,” said Bill Garner, a local businessman and president of the group.
“We’re not naysayers, we’re not against recreation and we’re not against a bond issue,” added Ralph Price, another member of the group. “All we are going to require is that the people who are in charge of borrowing money on our behalf, we want them to follow a process that leads to a more logical conclusion.”
“This is something that is very important to the City of McComb,” Price added. “We hope it is the beginning of more of a communication with our selectmen and more of a communication with our mayor. As disappointed as some people may be about the way this went, we feel that for the long term it’s the best way and the benefits will be a more open communication process.”borhood and build another park.”
As for Maddox and Nobles, the pair said their votes didn’t reflect a change of heart about the projects in the proposal, but rather a feeling that they might need to be addressed in a different way.
“It’s kind of hard to be laying off people and then going for a bond issue,” Maddox said. “But the bond issue had some mighty good things in it. … They still need to be finished … It’s not dead, it’s just something that we need to look at a little later.”
Nobles added that there were several structural issues to be addressed as well.
He said he’d have preferred a public hearing be held before the proposal was voted through. He said improvements budgeted for fields behind the MLK Center were on land for which the city could have difficulty gaining ownership. And he argued that had the bond been defeated in a referendum, it would be much more difficult to get such projects done at a later date, even with more funds available.
“I supported it initially because I had three projects in my ward: The East McComb activities field, the sports park and Higgins field,” Nobles said. “But my phone has blown up. … I was wanting to be able to explain to my constituents how we’re going to pay for this … and (Patterson) was yet to explain. … Are we going to pass around a plate?”
Nobles also emphatically denied any meetings before the meeting to alter his opinion.
“I would like for the mayor to do a poll,” Nobles said. “He can come to my ward and ask my constituents what they think about his bond issue. The only meeting that I had was with concerned citizens. None of the selectmen got together and said ‘Hey, we’re going to kill this.’ ”
Representatives of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility added that they were simply grateful to petition signees for their help.
“I think the petition generated a lot of concern about what the board of mayor and selectmen are doing, and hopefully it will put the board on notice that they do have somebody to answer to after all — the citizens,” said Bill Garner, a local businessman and president of the group.
“We’re not naysayers, we’re not against recreation and we’re not against a bond issue,” added Ralph Price, another member of the group. “All we are going to require is that the people who are in charge of borrowing money on our behalf, we want them to follow a process that leads to a more logical conclusion.”
“This is something that is very important to the city of mccomb,” Price added. “We hope it is the beginning of more of a communication with our selectmen and more of a communication with our mayor. As disappointed as some people may be about the way this went, we feel that for the long term it’s the best way and the benefits will be a more open communication process.”
