The Sunflower County Board of Supervisors appears to be holding the budget steady for the upcoming fiscal year, with little change in terms of taxes planned for property owners.
That may not be the case come next year, according to more than one person who was in the room during the past Monday’s board meeting.
District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson handed out a cash on-hand report that was apparently generated by the county’s auditor that shows that reserves may be in decline.
While the bank account looks healthy enough, Dickerson pointed out that a lot of the money sitting in the county’s general fund is obligated, leaving only about 3.2 months of cash on-hand for emergency purposes.
The county board has done an admirable job of trying to keep taxes low over the past few years, while trying to mitigate turnover across all departments by handing out raises and keeping workers supplied with updated vehicles and equipment.
The county’s cash supply might be in even more dire circumstances if it were not for the taxes being paid by a public utility on the solar farm in Ruleville.
Revenue from the private Harvest Gold project expected to hit during the next fiscal year will be much lower since that company will pay a fee in lieu instead of the assessed value of the land.
Several more wind and solar projects are expected to be entertained by the county over the next couple of years, but elected officials should not bank on that green energy green being there forever.
In other words, several years down the road, the county may run into an issue where it has outspent its green energy tax revenue potential, and it will have to account for that spending in some way, shape or form.
More than likely, it will be the taxpaying citizens, not the solar farm companies, that bear the brunt of years of unchecked salary increases and vehicle purchases.
Just this past Monday, Dickerson, District 2 Supervisor Riley Rice and Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams suggested that there may indeed be a fiscal reckoning for the county board’s generosity.
On the solar farm front, the Republican top-heavy state government is currently taking a hard look at green energy projects across the state.
According to a recent report from Magnolia Tribune, the Public Service Commission hosted a “ solar summit…where experts and the public discussed the impacts of increased solar power generation in the state.”
One of the topics discussed was the use of solar when it comes to the state’s rich farmland.
Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson “expressed serious concerns regarding the long-term impact of solar farms being deployed in massive scale on Mississippi farmland throughout the state.”
“I don’t blame the farmers. I respect and fight for the property rights of landowners. I do blame the failed policies and the false economy put into place by the Biden-Harris Administration. Farmers are our true conservationists,” said Gipson. “They are currently facing tremendous inflationary and regulatory pressures, making it challenging to stay in business, and those pressures are resulting in the expanded solar footprint across rural Mississippi.”
Gibson “called for a statewide permitting process to ensure the environmental habitat as well as the economic value of Mississippi farmland are not harmed and added inflationary pressures are not put on farmers.”
State leaders don’t seem to be at a point yet where they are talking about prohibiting or capping such projects, as most of the deals are done between private companies and private landowners, but it is significant that they are taking notice of the impact solar might have on the state’s agricultural economy in the next few years.
As for Sunflower County, the solar farm money is nice, but it has not made us rich beyond our wildest dreams.
It has only spurred a host of wild spending proposals by private organizations and even within some governmental departments.
If the board doesn’t learn to say no, future budgets will be fried by the solar farms.
