The good news: Mississippi lawmakers are working on ideas for how to spend the $1.8 billion the state received in pandemic stimulus money through the American Rescue Plan passed this year.
The bad news: The Mississippi Today website reported that when lawmakers asked local governments, state agencies, universities and nonprofits for suggestions, their ideas totaled $7 billion — or about four times more than the money lawmakers are wanting to allocate.
Counties and cities want some of the money for water and sewer upgrades. The state Department of Mental Health and the Child Protection Services agency want money to shift the focus of their services. The Department of Health wants a slice to repair facilities and upgrade technology. And the list goes on.
It may be that some of the suggestions won’t be allowed by the legislation’s restrictions, but it’s still clear that even $1.8 billion won’t be enough to fix everything that needs attention.
A bit more good news: The state has another $4 billion windfall from the COVID-19 pandemic that has not been budgeted. At least there’s no shortage of ideas.
