County adopts budget, sets tax levy

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors approved a $51,434,035 budget for the upcoming fiscal year, according to county administrator Tim Powell.

There were no new taxes. The mill rate stayed the same at 114.42 mills, with 30.2 mills going to the Marshall County School District. The school district asked for no increase.

About $6.8 million in the budget comes from COVID federal dollars, he said, money approved for the county by the State of Mississippi. A large portion of those funds were a one-time allocation of American Rescue Plan Act monies. Powell said those dollars may be spent in the 2024-2026 fiscal years. A large portion of ARPA funds are earmarked for construction of a sewer system in the Hyline Drive area of the county near Mississippi Highway 72.

“COVID money is a onetime spend and once that’s spent the budget goes back down,” Powell said.

The budget minus ARPA funds is about $44.6 million, he said.

There were no raises in this fiscal year budget. The employer’s share of the state retirement withholding is expected to go up about two percent, this year, which is a large portion of the increase in the budget this year, Powell said.

Other outlays in this budget will go to the construction of Medic Station #1, to be built behind the present Sheriff’s Office/jail.

A new substation in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park should be built in to the budget year Oct. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024. A 100-foot ladder pumper truck has been approved to go into that substation which is located adjacent to the Marshall County Workforce Training Center at the Wingo Road and Cayce Road intersection.

The general mill rate last year was set at $319,544 and increased to $337,934, all due to county growth.

Powell said the budget is projected on 95 percent of what is put in the budget.

No citizen will pay more taxes in 2024 unless the value of the property increases due to adding or enlarging structures, for example, or unless expensive personal property or equipment has been purchased (applies to commercial and industrial personal properties).

Powell said the next two years budgets are likely to be smaller after the ARPA monies have been spent.

Marshall County and the State of Mississippi will match the federal ARPA dollars 50:50.