Sunflower County stands to benefit to the tune of over $600,000 in diverted Use Tax revenue alone thanks to recent legislation passed during a special session geared toward boosting infrastructure funding statewide.
At the request of District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson, Sen. Willie Simmons visited the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors during their meeting on Tuesday to explain recent decisions made at the state’s capitol regarding infrastructure funding.
According to Simmons, the county is in line to receive $625,700 of “Use Tax Diversion funds” to fix it’s deteriorating roads and bridges.
The state legislators voted last week during a special session to approve three major bills including a use and Internet tax bill, a lottery bill and the BP Fund. He said although it will generate over $200 million,“It’s still not enough.” Simmons thanked Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Speaker of the House Phillip Gunn who were on record as being opposed to the lottery but decided to support it.
Simmons said he was grateful for the measures, which will produce around $2 billion over the next 10 years, but as of now the state needs about $4 billion to fix the state and local road system. “It’s a good start and we aren’t complaining,” he said.
Of the new measures enacted, the new state lottery is expected to generate $80 million with that going to the Mississippi Department of Transportation for state roads only, local governments will not get that. However in addition to that, they put another $20 million from the Internet sales tax into MDOT for local roads and bridges for the next 10 years.
Simmons also mentioned that any money generated by the lottery that rises above the $80 million mark will go to the Education Enhancement Fund. He is optimistic that this will happen citing that research shows that Mississippians were already spending millions of dollars on the lotteries in neighboring states, so now that money will be kept in Mississippi.
The Infrastructure Bill encompasses the Internet sales tax, sports betting and a new fee associated with electric and hybrid cars, which is expected to generate $5 million a year.
Simmons told the county lawmakers that he did not expect the lottery money to start coming in until possibly July of 2019. The sports betting funds were scheduled for September 1 and the fee for the cars, which is $300 for electric and $150 for hybrid, should start to materialize by October 1.
However, in order to get the money in use without delay, Simmons said they would use money from the “Sinking Gaming Fund,” which he said would produce $3 million per month, to pay off a $300 million bond bill. “If we wait on the lottery to go in place and the Internet sales tax to kick in, you may not get the money until three or four years from now,” he said.
The legislators met in their regular session in March and approved a $50 million bond bill for the LSB Program and that plus all of the other funding will continue to come into the county in addition to the new money.
The other piece of legislation involves the $750 million BP Oil settlement. They took a portion of that money and are using it for a long list of special projects, which includes $300,000 to the Drew Park Avenue project.
All of the Use Tax Diversion funds are allocated based on population, number of miles and an equity distribution. In addition to the $625,757 coming to the county, each municipality will receive a disbursement that includes $10,033 as its equity distribution.
The breakdown by city is also based on sales tax and population and is as follows: Doddsville—$12,017, Drew—$45,544, Indianola—$289,155, Inverness—$29,690, Moorhead—$53,579, Ruleville—$70,000 and Sunflower—$30,510. The total for municipalities is $531,084 and including the county disbursement that amount rises to $1,156,841 not including the $300,000 in BP Funds for Drew.
These funds will be allocated for the next 10 years through 2028. The BP fund will be in place until 2033 and generate $40 million per year with 75 percent going to the Gulf Coast and the other 25 percent to the rest of the state for special projects.
By way of a timeline, Simmons said the governor has to call a bond commission meeting to get things rolling and he has indicated that he will do so soon. He said the Internet sales tax and sports betting money should be coming in right away. And as for the lottery, the governor first has to appoint a 7-person commission to oversee the lottery and that commission has to be confirmed by the Senate.
Simmons said after the special session, “Infrastructure takes on somewhat of a new meaning.” He said normally it’s just highways and transportation. “But the way the money is put into the bill that we passed for the special session, it allows for it to be used for infrastructure, which means that if municipalities are working on trying to do something for streets, they don’t just have to limit it for streets, they can use it for water and sewage.”
He explained that it doesn’t make sense to work on the streets when the infrastructure beneath is so bad it will have to be pulled up in six months to a year.
Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams asked Simmons about alternative funding measures for the future, Simmons said that he is hopeful that they will be able to revisit certain things and come up with additional funding means. However, he did mention that an increase in the fuel tax was unlikely. “Tate Reeves has asked me every year do you have the votes to pass fuel taxes, and I have not had it,” he said.
Simmons said when he has done surveys in the past, no more than 12 of the 52 senators have indicated that they would support a fuel tax bill. He emphasized that the tax is still the same as it was in 1989.
Also accompanying Simmons was District 30 Rep. Tracey T. Rosebud who Simmons said worked very closely with him to push for things they needed to get done. Simmons asked the board to facilitate a session with city leaders within the county so they could formulate a plan to work together on the county’s infrastructure.
