TYLERTOWN — Walthall County school board members worried Tuesday their actions could leave someone homeless.
The board heard an update on a 16th Section lease on which property taxes have not been paid this year.
Board attorney Conrad Mord said he had talked to the leaseholder’s teenaged daughter in person and then to the leaseholder by phone, telling them the taxes need to be paid.
“He came by and tried to pay me at my office,” Mord said. “I told he needed to go to the tax collector’s office at the courthouse. I’m not sure how much he understood.”
The lease is a residential agreement, rather than agricultural or hunting and fishing, meaning cancelation of the lease would lead to eviction.
“I don’t want to take their house,” board member Linda Metz said.
The unpaid taxes are a little more than $400, and board members noted the leseholder must have had the money to pay if he was going to pay at Mord’s office.
Mord said the taxes, which were due by March, had not gone unpaid before. At the board’s request, he said he would try to talk to the leaseholder again.
The state auditor’s office has ordered school districts to start canceling 16th Section leases on which the lease payments or taxes aren’t paid on time.
“It’s already almost a year past due,” Mord told the board. “A little longer won’t make much difference.”
Also in 16th Section matters, the board agreed to transfer an 80-acre agricultural lease from Nelson McKenzie to Joshua Raynes, and signed the paperwork finalizing the transfer of two leases to Wally Givens.
In other business, the board:
• Thanked outgoing board member Jeffre Conerly, who attended the meeting by phone, for his eight years of service on the board. Conerly, who didn’t seek re-election, will be succeeded by Zack Fortenberry in January.
• Learned that students have been issued Chromebooks, and that 465 internet hotspots purchased by the district are being offered to students.
• Approved a salary increase of $100 for Grant Williamson, a district employee who was assigned as a sports official at Salem. As an employee, he cannot also be paid as a contractor.
• Hired seventh and eighth-grade science teacher Jesse Crain and third-grade teacher Courtney Hobgood at Dexter Attendance Center and interventionist Laken Brown at Tylertown Primary School.
• Accepted the resignation of Donovan Harness as computer technician.
