LAUREL —
The Jones County Board of Supervisors passed its budget for the 2010-11 Fiscal Year Tuesday without any questions or opposition from the public.
According to the budget, the county’s budget stands at $41.6 million. Last year’s budget was $41.1 million.
County Administrator Charles Miller explained that the budget decrease the county’s property tax revenue by 1.6 percent, from $20.493,264 to $20.153,753.
“As a result of the economy, our projected collection rate is reduced from 99 percent to 96 percent,” said Miller. “Fifty-seven percent of our revenue comes from property taxes, 14 percent from the state, 8 percent from charges for services, 4 percent from fines and fees, another 8 percent for debt proceeds, 2 percent from the federal government, 4 percent from miscellaneous sources, and 3 percent from local resources.”
Miller also explained that the county’s tax rate will remain the same as last year at 50.97 mills. It would take a millage rate of 51.8 to produce the same amount of revenue from ad valorem taxes for Jones County Government as was collected the prior year.
Miller noted that the Jones County tax assessment for the 2010-11 Fiscal Year is 56 percent for education, 29 percent for the general fund, 1 percent for Pat Harrison Waterway, 6 percent for debt services, 2 percent for miscellaneous items, 2 percent for volunteer fire and 4 percent for roads and bridges.
Miller explained that the Jones County School District plans to increase its property tax rate by .77 mills to 53.77 mills. The increase is due to a shortfall in property tax collections last year.
“We know that the economy is shaky right now and a lot of people have not been able to pay their property taxes,” said Mary Louis Breland, director of the Laurel-Jones County Library System. “It’s something that is affecting us all.”
Breland, who attended the hearing to see how much supervisors were allocating to the library system, said, “It looks like the county is giving us the same as they gave us last year.”
The Jones County Board of Supervisors have allocated $345,000 for the library and $345,000 the previous year.
“We had hoped for more, but we knew there would be restrictions,” she said. “Hopefully, the economy will pick back up and we can come back and ask for more if the need arises.”
According to Breland, the City of Laurel and the state have cut funding to the library. She said Laurel has reduced its allocation to the city by $40,00 while the state has cut $11,000 from budgeted funds.
Last year, the City of Laurel funded the library $100,000, which is $40,000 less than it did the previous year. The library asked for $140,000 this year, but the city once again budgeted $100,000.
Other budget highlights include:
• A $205,248 increase to the Emergency Management Agency’s budget for four new dispatchers and console costs (1 per shift)
• A $2,758,579 increase in the building construction fund for the new Department of Human Services Building and Justice Court Building
• An additional $62,425 for district recreation
• A decrease of $142,500 in repayment of interfund loans (the loan for the Reliable Building was paid off)
• A $2,026,390 decrease in road repair and construction (the bulk of bind funds have already been spent
• A $1,925,500 decrease in the Highway 11 Bridge Project (the state funded bridge project is winding down)
Local News
Related Photos
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County Administrator Charles Miller discusses the 2010-11 Fiscal Year budget at Tuesday’s budget hearing in Ellisville. Photo/Charlotte A. Graham
County passes $41.6M budget
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