POPLARVILLE —
On Monday, Supervisors, looking for revenue in all areas, urged Sheriff David Allison to crack down on residents who run out-of-state tags on their personal vehicles to avoid paying Mississippi taxes, which are billed on tag invoices.
In another discussion, heard for the first time was the dreaded word: “layoffs.”
Allison said his department has been looking for violators, said he would increase efforts to apprehend them, and urged residents to turn in people they know are running illegal tags, even if a neighbor.
He said residents wanting to turn in a violator can call 601-403-2340 and report what they believe to be a violation. The person’s name reporting the violation will be held in confidence, or said Allison, “You don’t even have to give your name. We will check out your information, and if it proves to be accurate, we will issue a citation.”
He said if the charge is upheld, a judge would decide the punishment.
Allison said state law requires a Mississippi tag, even for some commercial vehicles, if it is parked at the county resident’s home at least three nights per week. He said residents who live in Pearl River County and have vehicles furnished by an out-of-state employer would be legal running an out-of-state tag.
Most violations involve Mississippi residents driving cars with Louisiana tags. Pearl River County shares a state boundary line with St. Tammany and Washington parishes in Louisiana.
Slidell, La., is only 15 minutes away and New Orleans’ Canal Street 45 minutes away. Thousands of Pearl River County residents work in New Orleans and surrounding Louisiana areas. Many work in the Louisiana oil fields.
Mississippi car tags cost sometimes hundreds and even thousands of dollars more, if new, than Louisiana or other out-of-state tags because Mississippi adds property taxes for the value of the car onto the license plate.
Some tags for new vehicles can run several thousands of dollars more in Mississippi than Louisiana, although Louisiana sales taxes on vehicles are much higher than Mississippi’s, officials said.
Allison said he believes the loss in tax revenue for Pearl River County “is significant.”
Supervisors said they had been receiving a great many calls from residents complaining about illegal tags. They were telling supervisors they pay their taxes and everyone else should, too.
In Louisiana, residents pay about $20 every two years for a car tag. Louisiana not only funds its local parish government with property taxes but also with sales taxes, which help lower the cost of vehicle tags, while local government in Mississippi relies partially on vehicle taxes. In Louisiana, a parish is the same as a county in Mississippi. Louisiana also relies on oil severance taxes from the oil industry in South Louisiana and offshore.
In other matters, supervisors talked to department heads about budget matters.
Appearing before the board was District Attorney Hal Kittrel, Pearl River County Court Judge D. Richelle Lumpkin, Circuit Court Clerk Vicki Hariel, Picayune Animal Shelter Director Judy Wheaton, County Extension Agent Eddie M.L. Smith and Sheriff David Allison.
Also private citizens Wayne Freeman, Donna Knezevich and Donald Coblentz made short statements to the supervisors regarding budget matters.
Perhaps the most significant comment came from County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin, Jr. Facing a $2. 8 million shortfall in revenue to support a new budget, which includes additional requests from department heads amounting to $2 million and an $800,000 reduction in property taxes unless millage is increased to make up for declining property values, Lumpkin told the board it would have to lay off 20 employees to generate a $1 million savings.
He said expenditures for entities outside the budget items required to be funded by the state would not make up enough cuts to close the budget gap. He referred to entities the board funds that are not specifically mandated by state law, such as the Senior Center.
It was the first time that word, layoffs, has been mentioned during the current fiscal crisis. No supervisor nor any administrator so far has mentioned on or off-the-record any possibility of layoffs, although the board did clamp on an employee furlough program on June 23, that remained in place into early August and helped slow down a dwindling end-of-the-year cash balance. Some department heads actually want to hire additional employees in the new budget year.
Supervisor Sandy Kane Smith told the board that he wanted to discuss “personnel matters” in an executive session after the open meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half Monday morning, and supervisors did go into executive session following the open meeting.
Supervisors face a Sept. 15 deadline to finalize a budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, at which time they will set county and school millage rates. Both the Pearl River County school board and the Poplarville school board have requested the same amount of money they received last year, and that is expected to cause school district millage rates to go up because of falling property values. A mill this year generates less money than last year’s mill because of lower property values.
Supervisors’ new budget will take effect on Oct. 1, after it is adopted on Sept. 15.
Last year’s 2011-2012 budget was $14.7 million. The projected 2012-13 budget, which includes department head requests, is $16.8 million.
Sources close to the board of supervisors have told the Picayune Item a majority of the board is in no mood for raising taxes, but no supervisor has said he or she would vote no on a proposed hike in millage rates. Last year, the board increased millage rates three mills to support the general fund.
Supervisors plan to meet again on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Chancery Court Annex on Julia Street.
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Speaking to supervisors, in the top photo, DA Hal Kittrel said he was only asking for what the state mandated extra in his budget, and Judge D. Richelle Lumpkin, in the lower photo, said the county court was accomplishing its task of cutting down on holding county prisoners, which saves taxpayers money, and generating revenue through fees and commissions. Kittrel said 50 percent of his cases in the 15th Judicial District are generated in Pearl River County. David A. Farrell
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