TYLERTOWN – Walthall County supervisors decided Wednesday to boost taxes by 2 mills for 2017-18, but they’ll still be eating away some of their cash balance for the next fiscal year.
In addition to a mill previously agreed to to boost the county road fund, the board added a mill to defray expenses in the general fund, where the sheriff’s department is seeking more funding.
The increase would raise taxes on a $100,000 house about $20 per year. Mills in Walthall County, depending on why and where they are levied, mostly bring $80,000 to $90,000 to the county.
Charlie Prince, a certified public accountant from Magee who assists the board in setting its budget and millage, reminded supervisors that they had already budgeted $185,000 more in spending than was projected to come into the general fund through tax levy.
Additional spending for the sheriff’s department of up to $200,000 puts a bigger bite on the cash reserves.
At that rate of spending beyond revenues, “every three years, you’re $1 million into your cash,” Prince said. “You have to offset that. I’m not sure you can do that all at once, but you need to offset some.”
Sheriff Kyle Breland and department secretary Sherry Sandifer brought revised budget numbers to Wednesday’s meeting.
They moved funding for a new jail administrator moved from the custody of prisoners line item to the sheriff’s administration line item.
The custody of prisoners estimate decreased to about $263,000. The administration category was increased from a previous estimate of $1,134,000 to about $1,319,000, with requests for the jail administrator salary and benefits as well as the same for a Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics-affiliated agent, at least one new deputy and at least one new vehicle for the MBN agent.
Supervisor Fred Magee voiced support for hiring more officers.
“I’d like to see more officers on duty at night,” Magee said. “That would mean more safety for the people ... People want to see more officers, but they don’t want to pay more taxes. The only way to do it is to raise taxes.”
County bookkeeper Cindy Ginn said, based on expenditures this year, there are few places where the county can make cuts.
“The airport just bought fuel this year, and they usually do that every other year, but that’s just $25,000,” Ginn said.
Prince said the county can borrow for some things, such as bridge repairs, which may become necessary as federally mandated inspections are conducted soon.
The board also noted some items which are largely out of the board’s control, including fuel and other transportation costs and medical care for inmates.
The board settled on the 2-mill increase and indicated there could be another increase next year to further offset the gap between spending and revenue.
In addition, the board reallocated a tenth of a mill from the school district’s revenue request to the county road fund.
Prince said a $2 million growth in county property values should provide the amount requested by the district. If not, he said the district has the ability to use other methods, such as shortfall notes, to make up the revenue more easily than the county can.
