Picayune’s Separate Municipal School Board of Trustees approved a motion to request $146,896 more in funding from ad valorem tax than the year before.
This amount will be generated from the increase in assessments that occurred when the Pearl River County Tax Assessor’s office was mandated by the state to use a new book this year that outlines the value of building materials. According to previous coverage, the value of almost every building material increased, leading to an increase in property assessments.
The Board could have approved a motion to forego the additional funding they approved as part of the budget in June, but would have had to find other areas in their budget to make cuts. District Finance Director Lisa Persick said the Board could have opted not to spend $110,000 on a new bus and found other areas to cut to cover the adjustment.
Even with the increase, which will amount to an additional $70 to a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 before the increase, the district’s millage will decrease. Persick said the total mills will decrease from 63.46 to 61.82. Of that millage, 56.49 will be used by the district to fund general operations while the rest will fund the GED and other programs and reduce the district’s debt service. While the district is supposed to be capped at 55 mills, state law allows school districts to request more millage when assessments will not generate the same amount of funding as the prior year, Persick said. She said that as assessments rise, the millage will decrease.
Persick said City Clerk Amber Hinton told her that home assessments are expected to increase by 14 percent. Homes previously assessed at $100,000 will now have an assessed value of $114,000.
The bulk of the extra funds will come from residents with real property, or homeowners. Tax assessments on mobile homes and businesses will decrease while car tags will either decrease or stay the same, Persick said.
Part of the increase to homeowners is due in part to a decrease in Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding.
Persick said during her discussion with Hinton, she was told that if the district had requested the same amount of funding as last year, that the city would have had to decrease other collections in the city, including in the areas of utilities and businesses.
Last year the district spent $2.3 million in maintenance costs, just to keep the facilities clean and grass cut. No repairs to structures were conducted, Persick said.
Even though some Board members said they were against a tax increase in previous meetings, the motion to approve the budget as it was presented in June passed unanimously.