Special session coming up June 5

Gary Anderson, consultant to the Marshall County Board of Supervisors, recently discussed the special session called by Gov. Phil Bryant for June 5.

Budgetary issues will be on the call, he said.

Anderson said Bryant did not say what the real call will be, but on the agenda will be potentially a number of items.

The budget for the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the attorney general’s issues are likely to be on the call, he said, but others want to get bills added to the call.

Anderson said Rep. Bill Kinkade wants to get the Mississippi Department of Corrections bill that the governor vetoed on the call.

“Others want the lottery added to the call, but the groundwork for the lottery bill is not done yet,” he said.

The agency the lottery would be assigned to, for example, must be decided.

Other members want the tax cut set to go into effect January 1, 2018, to be delayed until the financial picture has been stabilized, he said. Although the revenues were on the upward swing the last two months, that is insufficient to mark a trend.

The current fiscal year revenues are short about $200 million, he said. The governor will likely announce the call list the first week before the special session.

Supervisor George Zinn asked what the Rainy Day Fund has left in it.

The Legislature allowed the governor to go into the Rainy Day Fund before June 30 to plug holes in the budget deficit, Anderson said.

Charles Terry asked what would be done about the sweep of agency funds that the governor made to operate on due to the budget deficit.

Anderson said attorney general Jim Hood objected to the sweeps, saying it was illegal.

“They actually ‘borrowed’ the resources to stop any other legal action, only they are saying don’t do it again this year,” Anderson said. “This is a patch, not for every year.”

Anderson said the question of repayment to the agencies is unanswered.

Relating to the lottery question, Anderson said an estimated $40 million to $80 million goes out of state to lotteries of adjoining states. Louisiana and Tennessee are benefiting from Mississippians crossing the state line to buy lottery tickets.

“So, some people want to keep those lottery dollars inside the state,” Anderson said. “There are lots of questions about how it would be regulated and where the money (tax money) would go. The gaming commission is specific to casinos. A lot more thought needs to go up into what kind of lottery Mississippi would want. Speaker Gunn wants it studied and thought through. The governor said he would put it on the agenda if both the House and Senate want it.”

Anderson said a Washington-based organization had provided guidance to the governor on what new business development and investments would result from the tax cuts.

“They (tax cuts) have not played out successfully in other states,” he said. “The legislative budget office normally would provide a fiscal note to project out what would happen, just like this Washington, D.C.- based group. There is also a group studying education and MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program), so it is not likely it will be on the call.

Chancery clerk Chuck Thomas and the board of supervisors discussed the planned cutbacks in the Department of Health.

Thomas said the Health Department locally is likely to be cut back another day, going to a two-day-a-week schedule. Cuts in funding to the health department and the department of mental health will mean that local communities will suffer and have to pick up the tab for indigent care, he said.

Thomas recommended the county decrease its funding to the Marshall County Health Department since services would be curtailed.

The county first lost its driver’s license office, then the Social Security office, and now the health department is being trimmed, Thomas said.

Terry said the state wants to cut back the health department to two days but the county to contribute the same amount of money in its share.

Anderson said 650 jobs are at stake statewide if health department services are curtailed and state and federal dollars that would come to the local level would be decreased.

Thomas is worried about cuts to mental health.

Terry suggested the board had discussed putting in a safety net for mental patients at Alliance Hospital rather than let the patients be taken to jail for housing.

“We could put our money there,” he said.

“They are turning them out too soon from the state on these mental health and drug and alcohol patients,” Thomas said.

“The bottomline is you have politicians telling you what service you will have,” said county administrator Larry Hall. “Six-hundred and fifty jobs in mental health is a big impact on people.”

A discussion followed about the conditions at Whitfield.

“I think the leadership is trying to close it down over time,” Anderson said.

“The buildings are falling down and trees are growing up through the buildings,” Thomas said.

“They are trying to get them (clients) into the regional (centers) and want to run them through quickly and turn them out,” supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett said. “They want to throw it (the costs) back on the counties.”

“I wish we would react. Do something,” Thomas said.

“They make themselves look good (by reducing taxes) and then throw unfunded mandates back on the counties,” Bennett said.

Anderson said federal money is going to be lost when they cut back on mental health and the health department.

“The leadership thinks they have resolved the issues with cuts (budget cuts),” he said.

Zinn said the board of supervisors needs to be absolutely sure about what they could lose before cutting back on support of the local health department.

“Are we reaping the benefits?” he asked. “To move off first base, you have to move off first base.”

Terry asked if the county should cut back pro rata (by the amount the state cuts back in scheduling).

“They may cut us down to one day a week,” said Bennett. “They know what they are doing.”

Susie Hill said the county had to come up with money when the state cut back on funding of the library.

“The library is going to need $25,000 to cover federal cuts,” Hall said.

Terry said citizens need to get involved.

“It takes more than five at the table here,” he said.

Hall said money is coming in from the state for the industrial parks. A grant was received for $400,000 for a water tank, and another $360,000 for a sewer line extension to the McCormick building in Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park. Then $30,000 just came in on a waste tire grant, he said.

And Volvo Group is expanding with a capital investment of about $250,000 a year and 10 additional jobs. The group is now hiring up to 350 employees since the warehouse and