POPLARVILLE —
Residents who took advantage of an opportunity to publicly address supervisors concerning taxes and the new 2012-13 budget on Wednesday complained that supervisors have not provided the public with enough information on the budget to make a comment on it or make an informed decision.
Said Donna Knezevich, “I come to each board meeting, and each budget hearing, and I should be thoroughly informed on what this budget contains, if you have been discussing it in open session. I don’t know what is in it.”
Five residents addressed the board.
She added, “I asked for a copy of the budget and I was told that there was none, so I question how the budget we are supposed to comment on has come to pass, if there is one. . .”
Later that brought a response from Supervisor Anthony Hales, Sr. He told Knezevich that, actually, no final budget has as of Wednesday been compiled. “I don’t know what these other guys are going to do when we vote on what are proposals. I know how I am going to vote. And I reckon that after the vote we will still have some negotiating of line items. So a final budget has not been completed. We aren’t hiding anything.”
Said Knezevich, “Since 2004 Pearl River County has increased its tax revenue by 64 percent. Next year will be the same; a few minor cuts and more spending and more taxing.”
Rance Bedwell told supervisors that he understood the state statutes require the board to publish a copy of the proposed budget before the public hearing so they would have information on which to comment.
County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin, Jr., told Bedwell that a public notice of the board’s intent to raise millage rates, which also announces a date for a public hearing, is required before the budget and millage rates are adopted. He also said that the board has to advertise the budget in a newspaper after it is adopted.
Bedwell told the board, “I am more than content with the level of services that we receive from the county, and I would actually like to see a decrease in services. I don’t want taxes raised. That’s all I have to say.”
Said Jeff Smith, “Property taxes in Pearl River County have reached a point that any tax increase, no matter how small, begs the question. When is enough enough? Some companies and individuals and organizations benefit from and support tax increases. But for the rank-and-file taxpayers, the point of diminishing returns was exceeded years ago.”
Smith added, “We get the response that it’s only a small increase, only $50 a year, but it’s not unreasonable to resist a tax increase and not unreasonable to ask for a government that we can afford.”
Said Ken Newburgh, “I have never been to a government meeting in my life. I am surprised and saddened that I came and there is not enough information to make a decision about what’s going on. I watch TV and hear all about the government, and it saddens me to see that our county doesn’t have the courage to make the hard decisions before we go bankrupt.”
Jeremy Wilson, who identified himself as a local businessman and pastor, said that he was working on the outside of a business and a supervisor pulled up in a county truck and went in and left the motor running for 30 minutes.
Added Wilson, “I would not do that. I can’t afford to do that, and I don’t like the idea of you raising my property taxes. I have children and a wife. I pay for my own health care. I don’t participate in any government program. I have personal convictions and beliefs, and I struggle enough. You are expecting us to give you more money now, and I don’t see enough responsibility to take care of what you already get from us.”
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