Last minute decision stalls tags

Local News

July 3, 2009

By Jeremy Pittari Picayune Item Fri Jul 03, 2009, 08:50 AM CDT

PICAYUNE — Taxpayers who have car tags coming due this month will have to wait an additional week before renewing them.

A recent decision by the state legislature to maintain cost reduction of tags has the Jackson tax offices working hard to make the necessary adjustments to their system. Pearl River County Tax Assessor Gary Beech said that process will take a week to complete and until that time his office will not be able to collect taxes on car tags that are due in July. Beech expects the process to be complete by July 8. Until that time county residents with car tag taxes due in July will have to wait to renew their car tags.

Car tags that were due prior to July can be renewed at any time, with a late fee if the tag is two weeks overdue from the expiration date, Beech said. A late fee will not be assessed on July’s car tags as long as those taxes are paid this month or the grace period.

Beech said the grace period lasts two weeks. Late fees for July tags will begin to be charged on Aug. 15. Expired tags can still earn taxpayers a ticket from law enforcement even during the grace period. For new car purchases taxpayers have seven working days to purchase a tag.

Jackson offices are making the adjustments because Wednesday the state legislature made a decision to inject some general budget funds in to the fund that subsidizes car tags. Picayune state Rep. Mark Formby said that fund was established to be self funded and help taxpayers by lowering the price of car tags. That car tag fund helps to reduce the price of car tags by collecting part of the sales tax from new car sales. Those sales have slumped in recent months under current economic conditions and so has the fund. Formby said the legislature made a decision to put about $30 million to $40 million into that fund to help taxpayers since car sales were not funding it. Formby used an estimate because he did not have the exact figure in front of him.

That amount of money will help but will not be the same amount of funds that helped keep the price of car tags low last year. Beech said last year there was enough to help fund the equivalent of about 55 mills worth of taxes. This recent decision by the legislature has provided enough money to cover about 42 mills. Ultimately, that will mean taxpayers will see about a 6.25 percent increase in the price of their car tags when they pay their bills this year. However, without those funds Beech estimates the price of car tags would have doubled.

Text Only

Local News

MRI INSTALLED
This $1.2 million Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment was installed at the new location of Highland Community Hospital.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
Hall suspected of robbery after escaping
A man who escaped from jail after attending his father’s wake is suspected of having carried out an armed robbery on the Texas-Arkansas state line. Johnny Hall escaped from Mississippi Department of Corrections custody on Friday while attending his father’s wake in Picayune.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
City Hall expansion groundbreaking held
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday at the construction site for the expansion of the historic Picayune City Hall. “You can see our future when you look down Goodyear Boulevard. You see Chimney Square, our high school, The Link at First Baptist Church, Jack Read Park and then our historic City Hall.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
PRC athletic director says he’ll recommend random drug testing
Pearl River Central athletic director Andy Kivlan told the school board at its Monday night meeting that he will most likely recommend that students participating in extracurricular activities, including band and ROTC, be subject to random drug screening.

February 8, 2012
Supervisors adopt resolution encouraging more economic development in South Miss.
Following a short presentation by State Sen. Tony Smith (R-Picayune), the board of supervisors adopted on Monday a resolution encouraging state officials and agencies to exercise “fairness and parity” regarding location of new industries in Mississippi.

February 7, 2012 1 Photo
MDEQ wants comprehensive waste disposal plan from county
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has told Pearl River County it wants a comprehensive waste disposal plan for the county. Supervisors indicated at their Monday meeting that they are not happy with the request.

February 7, 2012
Police: Powell planned deadly fire for some time
Josh Powell planned the deadly house fire that killed him and his young sons for some time, dropping toys at charities and sending final emails to multiple acquaintances before the blaze, authorities said Monday.

February 7, 2012
Bar fight ends in man being run over
A bar fight Friday morning resulted in one man being run over by the other with a pickup truck.
The fight was reported to Picayune Police officers Friday morning at about 1:44 at the American Legion Hall on Union School Road, said Capt. Chad Dorn.

February 4, 2012
Arson suspected at possible murder site
Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department investigators suspect arson was involved in a structure fire that occurred at a home where James Raine was killed last year.
The home at 24 Emma Lane was the scene of what investigators believe was the murder of the 37-year-old Raine in October, 2011.

February 4, 2012 1 Photo
Inmate escapes leaving father’s wake
Johnny Hall Jr., 30, escaped from Mississippi Department of Corrections custody Friday afternoon while attending his father’s wake in Picayune.

February 4, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Last minute decision stalls tags

Site Map

Contact Us