The ailing infrastructures within Sunflower County and its municipalities could get a $1.1 million boost sooner than later.
State Sen. Willie Simmons, who has been a staunch proponent of increased legislative support for better roads, bridges and infrastructures, along with District 30 Rep. Tracey T. Rosebud met with a consortium of mayors and county supervisors last week to propose the establishment of a local infrastructure commission.
The proposal is fueled by the recent decision by state legislators to divert use tax funds totaling $1,156,841 per year into Sunflower County over the next 10 years. Simmons suggested that the county and each city pool their resources and collectively go to a local lender and borrow money based on that declaration.
“The reason for doing that,” he said, “Is that it gets the monies to them immediately and it makes it available for them to go on and complete projects as opposed to allowing those projects to deteriorate until the monies can build up.”
He added that because of the way the legislation was written the funds can be used for infrastructure (water and sewage) as well as streets and bridges.
Over $11.5 million in revenue is expected to flow into the county and its incorporated areas within the next decade.
“They may be able to borrow $8 million and pay it off or they may be able to borrow $9 million, but that $9 million will be available to them to start the process of taking care of projects immediately,” Simmons said.
Rosebud said forming a commission would be “proactive.”
He mentioned that he and Simmons represent some of the poorest counties in the state and as far as they are aware of, no other representatives or senators were working in their areas to make sure their communities do this kind of project.
“That would put us ahead as far as the Delta is concerned, at doing some things that are positive,” he said.
Some of the mayors were not present at the meeting, so Simmons said the next step is to hold another session where all of the officials including the aldermen can be there to get the information and become educated on the effort and then the governing board of each city can vote on whether or not they want to participate because inclusion is strictly voluntary.
Simmons believes the commission will be a positive step forward.
“I think it works well for everybody, because it makes the money available now. A small community like Doddsville, it would take them 10 years to get $120,000, but if they borrow the money those dollars would be available as soon as they are able to borrow it,” said Simmons.
Simmons said that if towns like Doddsville were to develop major projects that involved safety issues, the commission could go ahead and take care of the project immediately.
Otherwise, Doddsville, for example, would only receive about $12,000 per year.
Each city will get a check from the Bureau of Finance and the cities that decide to participate will in turn have to write a check to the established communal fund.
Simmons said it would be the task of the local officials to determine who will be on the commission and how many persons will serve.
Simmons acknowledged that they are aware that these funds are not all that is needed.
“We’re going to continue to work for additional dollars, we know this is a start and is nowhere what you need to complete the process, we understand that,” he said.
Simmons said he would also consult with state officials to see what laws, if any, needed to be passed to make the process run smoothly.
Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ President Glenn Donald thanked Simmons and Rosebud for introducing the concept to the officials. “I never thought of it like this, but this is a great idea,” he said.
Donald said the board’s clerk will coordinate with Simmons and the mayors on a date for the next meeting.
