The Leflore County Board of Supervisors has approved the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2022.
The board voted 2-1 to approve the budget following a public hearing. District 2 Supervisor Reginald Moore, who is also the board’s president, and District 5’s Robert Collins voted to approve the budget.
District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham voted against the budget because he was concerned about the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District asking for an increase in school taxes, which he says will be a burden for the taxpayers. District 3 Supervisor Anjuan Brown and District 4 Supervisor Eric Mitchell, both of whom work for the school district, recused themselves.
The new tax rate for the consolidated school district will be 44.69 mills, a 2.7% increase over the current rate of 43.51 mills.
At this new rate, the school taxes on a $100,000 owner-occupied home will go up $11.80 a year, and on a $30,000 automobile, the increase will be $10.62.
Abraham asked Kellia Washington, the school district’s chief of finance, to elaborate on why the district requested an increase in taxes. He said the schools presumably should have saved money in some areas, such as utilities, since classes were held virtually most of the past school year.
Washington said that while the district may have saved in some areas, it still faced other costs, such as running a food program in which bus drivers delivered meals to students at their homes.
She added that many teachers still worked at their classrooms to teach classes virtually, and other staff members also showed up to the office. The costs to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 also had an impact, she said.
Abraham asked that Washington provide the board a detailed breakdown of the school district’s $66.1 million budget for the next fiscal year.
Rob Spiller, a Greenwood financial adviser, also spoke about the increase in school taxes.The 2019 merger of the former Greenwood and Leflore County school districts should have reduced spending, he said.
He also pointed out that the school district has received federal stimulus money specifically to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
“That’s another reason to question why they need more money from the taxpayers,” he said. “I think it’s just a habit for the school system to ask for more money whether they need it or not.”
In other business, the board:
- Accepted a $19,000 bid from Sanders Tree Service to remove more than 100 trees along Country Club Drive. The trees, according to Jerry Smith, the county’s road manager, pose a danger because they could possibly fall on the roadway.
- Approved a motion to consider what safety measures can be implemented for the curve on Browning Road and other roads in the county with dangerous curves.
Shane Correro, the county engineer, said some citizens have asked that a guardrail be added along the curve on Browning Road. He said that would cost about $20,000.
Although board members were receptive to the idea of implementing some measure to protect motorists from driving off the roads, some were concerned about liability issues. Joyce Chiles, the county attorney, said that if a guardrail is installed, sufficient warning measures should be put up to let motorists know of it.
Moore, whose district includes Browning Road, said he wanted to be sure a guardrail would not create any liability issue for the county and instead proposed the motion for the county to consider other safety measures.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 662-581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
