SP board okays $42.5M budget

By Rupert Howell
South Panola School trustees gave final approval to the $42.5 million 2017-2018 school year budget during a special meeting Thursday where they also voted to take the higher of two proposals for the district’s general insurance.
There was little fanfare and few questions asked by outsiders attending the public hearing a week earlier prior to their regular monthly meeting concerning the budget when Financial Director David Rubenstein gave an overview of projected expenditures and estimated income for the coming year.
Later in the earlier meeting Rubenstein’s recommendation to accept the higher proposal for insurance was questioned with longtime trustee Lygunnah Bean saying he could not vote for spending $53,000 more for insurance without comparing “apples to apples.”
Superintendent Tim Wilder then instructed Rubenstein to contact the insurance companies involved to assure the proposals were covering the same areas.
Although Fisher Brown Bottrell’s proposal of $300,944.42 was $14,683,58 lower than BancorpSouth’s bid, trustees voted unanimously to accept the existing carrier after it was revealed BancorSouth paid out an additional $200,000 for items not necessarily covered in the policy at Batesville Elementary School.
That school was destroyed by fire 10 days after the BancorpSouth insurance was installed as carrier on July  10, 2015 and causing their carrier to pay millions of dollars in construction, relocating and other related costs due to the disruption.
BancorpSouth’s proposal of $315,628 was reduced by approximately $3 thousand following the initial proposal while Fisher, Brown and Bottrell’s proposal increased approximately $36,000.
Attorney for the board Ryan Revere confirmed to the board that they were not bound by law to take the lowest bid.
“I feel a lot better than last week,” Bean said about the cost difference with coverages.
“I feel a whole lot better than last week,” Trustee Jerry Cooley echoed.