A bad economy in Batesville?
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Billy Davis
Batesville seemed to endure its first jab from the national media, now migrating into North Mississippi for Friday’s presidential debate, though the reporter said his words were misunderstood.
Describing his hotel stay in Batesville, CNN contributor Bob Greene wrote in a story posted on-line Wednesday:
Batesville is a rural town of around 7,000 people, about half an hour’s drive from Oxford, where the debate will be held. Economic conditions here are, to put it kindly, not good.
But even by anecdotal standards, Batesville’s economy is strong if not at least healthy.
The latest sales tax figures for Batesville, reported by The Panolian in August, showed a one-percent increase in June revenues over the same period in 2007. Sardis and Como reported increases of two and four percent respectively.
The state receives a seven percent sales tax and diverts approximately 18 percent back to the municipality where it was collected. The revenue figures can be used to gauge the economic health of a community’s retail business.
In Panola County, the unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in August, putting Panola County 48th among the state’s 82 counties. Unemployment numbers here floated between 10 to 12 percent three years ago.
Batesville Mayor Jerry Autrey said he had touted Batesville’s economics to a BBC reporter only days earlier, describing the new GE Aviation plant and coming Toyota supplier Toyoda Gosei.
“We’re weathering the economic storm like the rest of the country, but I told him we’re building a new industrial park,” Autrey said. “By the time I got done, I hope he knew we’re doing pretty good.”
In fact, Autrey pointed out that he and other local officials are in Washington, D.C. this week to lobby Congress for funds to help build a new industrial park near the county airport.
The weak economy has slowed industrial growth across the state, but industrial prospects are still visiting Panola County, Panola Partnership CEO Sonny Simmons has said in recent months.
Owing to that continued interest, Panola County supervisors have authorized a $1 million CAP loan from the state to build the new industrial park. Acreage in Batesville’s W.H. Harmon Industrial Park is too small to support most plants seeking to build in Batesville.
Greene said Wednesday the 10-word sentence about Batesville’s economy was meant to express the concerns of people he had interviewed in Batesville.
“The people I’ve talked to – and I’ve talked to a lot of them– say things are rough money-wise,” Greene said by phone from his hotel room.
In the story, Greene interviewed Batesville residents, husband and wife Jim Vinson and Peggy Vinson, about the financial crisis on Wall Street. The Vinsons described their concerns over the financial crisis, but the story did not include concerns from local residents about Batesville’s economy.
“I was certainly not trying to portray Batesville as standing out as bad compared to the rest of the country,” Greene explained. “I know everybody everywhere is having a rough time of it.”
Greene said his next story, based on a theme of hope, will describe small business owners who are weathering the economy.
