Two years ago, the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors was pleasantly surprised when it learned that the solar farm near Ruleville would provide a little over $5 million in taxes to the county, just over $2 million of that amount going to the school district.
This past Monday, the board was likely equally unpleasantly shocked to learn that the county has taken a significant hit in its overall property tax valuation.
A lot of this is due to apparent business closures and some contraction of inventory here.
The discussion that followed was dramatic at times, but this does not have to be all bad news for Sunflower County.
This could very well be the turning point where the county, municipalities, the school district and economic development agencies unite under one common cause and that is to move the economic needle in the county in a positive direction.
Fragmentation of leadership across the county has long caused vacuums of communication, making it very difficult to articulate and execute shared economic goals.
Municipal, county and school boards, as well as economic development agencies, have been slow to address fragmented economic strategies here.
Fragmented government has its advantages in the sense that everyone who is in a position of leadership has built-in scapegoats to point their finger at when something appears to not be working.
Municipalities may blame the county. The county may blame the schools. The schools may blame the business community, which largely supports economic development policy.
On the same token, fragmented leadership offers little accountability.
Everyone keeps their jobs, because it’s the other person’s fault.
We hope that this recent news will be an impetus for the county board to set aside the pettiness that has dominated so many meetings over the past few years and actually get serious about leading a unified economic development strategy for the area.
Otherwise, fragmentation will continue to eat away at our population, the workforce and our local industries.
