PICAYUNE — A standing room only crowd of approximately 75 people attended a public hearing Tuesday at city hall on the proposed 2010-11 city budget and proposed millage rates to support not only the city budget but the school district budget as well.

Residents vented their displeasure concerning taxes, while zeroing in on the school district’s proposed budget millage rates. One group of residents zeroed in on what they termed was inadequate funding of center city parks.

Residents, although venting on taxes in general, addressed a lot of their questions and criticisms toward three school board members who voluntarily attended the hearing.

School board members Duane Wheat and Ray Scott and school board president Edward Stubbs, attended the hearing and spoke in response to residents’ questions.

Some residents were from outside the city limits because  the city’s school district juts into the rural areas surrounding Picayune. School board members occupying the two seats representing citizens outside the city limits but in the school district are Wheat and Tony Smith.

All members of the city council were present except Todd Lane.

In kicking off the hearing, Mayor Ed Pinero, Jr., said no additional taxes were being added to support the general fund budget He said that employment within the city was being reduced through attrition.

“We are doing more with less,” he told residents.

Pinero said the city does not plan to turn over the city water system to the Pearl River County Utility Authority.

He said the city plans to invest in the water system infrastructure to refurbish it and added that no new water rates have been built into the new budget.

He said that the city has no control over, or “anything to do with,” the proposed new rates that PRCUA is planning to apply to residents’ sewerage system bills.

Pinero said he had a number of questions from residents concerning the school budget, which the council applies to tax bills after receiving a dollar amount request from the school board. He directed City Clerk Priscilla Daniel and Chief Deputy Clerk Amber Hinton to explain that.

He added, “We have worked hard to present a budget with no millage increases except that for the paving bond issue, and with sales tax rebates dropping, that has not been easy to do.” The city receives half its tax revenues from state sales tax rebates.

The only new mills added by the city for the 2011 budget year is 6.96 mills to retire an $8 million bond issue recently approved by the council to pave all city streets.

The council, in passing the bond issue, said a program of erratically patching trouble spots erupting in the city’s street system was not addressing infrastructure needs efficiently. Officials said they were falling behind.

They said they were moving to repair streets all at once with bond money that right now has relatively low interest rates.

The 6.96 mills will bring the city’s total millage rate for the new fiscal year’s 2010-11 budget to 39.24 mills.

Pinero said city officials don’t see sales taxes increasing during the next fiscal year, and added that because of that prediction, city officials have been very conservative in their budget projections.

Daniel told  residents that the school board had requested millage to generate $9.2 million. That’s an additional $1 million over last year’s request of $8.2 million.

However, Daniel said that the school is capped by state law at 55 mills for operational purposes.

She said the school got 55 mills last year and will also get that same amount this year for operational purposes, which will generate for the school system $7.8 million.

Daniel also pointed out that the school board will get additional millage under what is called a debt service ad valorem tax request. Under that request, the school board asked for $256,634 for what is called a three-mill note, $130,245 for a shortfall note and $159,806 for funds to support GED classes.

Therefore, the millage allowed for debt service amounts to 3.90 mills. That brings the school board’s total millage to be applied for the new budget year to 60.69 mills.

No one gave any explanation why the school board asked for an additional $1 million when it knew that for operational purposes they were capped at 55 mills. Asked about it before the hearing started, Scott said there had been some confusion over whether or not the council had the authority to deny the school board’s request. He said during the discussion that the council had the authority to approve the millage above the 55-mill cap.

Daniel said that the overall millage rate applied for the school last year was 56.74 mills and the overall rate to be applied this year is 60.57 mills, an increase of 3.83 mills.

“Why they asked for more, I don’t know,” said Daniel.

Wheat gave an explanation of why the school board asked for more, and then Daniel and Wheat got into a confusing discussion on school funding issues.

Some comments by residents include:

Mike Glorioso said that he felt the bond paving project should have been put off to a time when the economy is better. He also said that if officials keep going up on fees, rates and taxes that “some people are going to start losing their homes.” He said the PRCUA officials told him at their recent meeting that the city of Picayune had once agreed to buy water from the utility, but reneged on the agreement, and that was one reason the utility authority had to raise sewerage rates. “You guys need to live within our budgets, not yours,” he told the council.

Ashraf Tabataleaii told the council that it should aggressively expand the city limits to take in more homes. “You keep raising our taxes. Most of the people inside the city limits are old and on fixed incomes,” she said. “You need to expand the city limits and get more young people inside the city. We are on a fixed income and you keep raising tags, utility bills and taxes on our homes. We can’t take any more. We are maxed out.”

William Misenheimer said he had paid school taxes for 30 years and has had zero kids go through the system. “I am not begrudging the school system one cent, but I am asking how much taxes are enough. Each year you ask for more taxes, and if I don’t pay’em you come and take my house. I saw on the Web site that the school dropout rate in 2007 was 9 percent. I think it is right to ask, Are we getting our money’s worth? And if not why?” He alleged expenditures at the school were $8,000 per pupil, though school officials put the figure at closer to $4,500. “Where is it all going?” he asked. “I think the word is accountability.” He said voters have learned a new word this year called “transparency” but he added, “Where do we go to find out where all this money is going.” He said he wanted to know the salaries of school employees from the superintendent to the man who buffs the floor. Wheat told Misenheimer salaries are public record. “Some of these people are afraid to get up here and say what I am saying, But where does it stop?” he said.

Misenheimer’s statement brought a response from school board president Stubbs and Scott.

Scott said “The state cut the school system right at $1 million last year. At the same time, the state did not reduce the requirements for teachers. We did not fill 26 teacher slots. We are already maxing out in students in some classes. Our minimum per class is 30. The 26 teachers amounted to roughly a million dollars. We also did not purchase any new buses, which saved another half-million-dollars. Also there are salary steps which are ordered by the state that we have no control over. What is happening is the state is cutting back but not loosening requirements. If you go back another year, they have cut us $2 million. That leaves only two ways to get that money: a tax increase or a reduction of the budget. We have reduced our budget. We may have to take additional hits and cuts. We also face another 5 percent cut. Most of the expense is teacher salaries. As to transparency, our school board meetings are on the first and third Tuesday of each month, and meetings are public. Everything is open. We cannot go beyond the 55 mills without a vote of the council allowing us to do so. So far, we have not handed out pink slips. We have reduced employees through attrition like the city.”

Stubbs said, “On the dropout problem the problem is not so much the kids, it’s the parents. We must get more parents involved in the education of their children. In the old-days parents were involved in their children’s education, and we are going to have to go back to that. We invite parents to come out and see what their children are trying to accomplish and they don’t show up. Parents have to monitor their child’s education all year.”

Another issue addressed was funding for parks throughout the city. The Rev. John L. Goss, Sr., repeatedly pressed Pinero about funding that was promised for refurbishing parks located near center city neighborhoods. Pinero and City Manager Harvey Miller told Goss that funding, long-range, would be forthcoming but not immediately.

Councilman Larry Breland also pressed the council about funding. “If the budget is in a deficit for one particular park, then it needs to be in deficit for all the parks,” he told the council.

Some community leaders have charged that parks near center city neighborhoods have been ignored while one major park has soaked up all the funding. They have been demanding that the inner city parks be given more money.

The public hearing was held to get citizen input into the city budget. The budget might be tweaked a little bit yet, and then the new 2010-11 city budget along with tax increases will become law when the council officially adopts it probably the first part of September. It will take effect on Oct. 1.

The new school budget has already been adopted. The school fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, 2011. However, the school board millage request is submitted by the school board to the city council so it can be handled and implemented along with the adoption of the city millage rate.