By John Howell Sr.
Smiles that broke out spontaneously brightened the Batesville boardroom Wednesday when city officials learned that an anticipated shortfall in the assessed value of the city’s taxable property had been drastically overestimated during a Monday budget meeting.

The simultaneous grinning Wednesday was in sharp contrast to the dour faces of the mayor and aldermen Monday when CPA Bill Crawford of Polk and Company told them that the assessed value of personal property at the Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association’s Batesville Generation Station had dropped from $30 million last year to $3 million in 2013.

Number is incorrect
“That number is incorrect,” said Bill Bryant shortly after Wednesday’s meeting began. Bryant is a consultant with the Panola County Tax Assessor’s office and had been invited to the Wednesday meeting.

“We still have $200 million on the LS Power,” (the former name of the generation facility) Bryant said. “That’s just on personal property. We’ve got another $4 million on real property,” he added. “If you take $200 million and multiply that by times 15 percent assessment ratio, that’s $30 million.”

An apparent miscommunication between the assessor’s office and the city had initially placed the value of the personal property at $20 million, which forced Crawford and the city officials on Monday to assume they had been left with an assessed value of $3 million on the generation station personal property.

The reduced assessment figure was a major contributor to anticipation during Monday’s meeting that an ad valorem tax on city property would be necessary to avoid a $700,000 shortfall in the city’s budget.

With most of the shortfall so easily erased, Crawford and the city officials went back to number crunching.

“In a worst case scenario we’d lose $10,000,” the CPA said.

Raises added to budget
“Since we got the news today, I’m good with the two percent,” Harrison said after further budget discussion. Crawford had prepared figures showing the total cost to the city for across-the-board cost-of-living increases to city employees of one, two and three percent. The two percent increase would add $193,500 to the total annual budget.

“I wasn’t going to bring it up, but since this hiccup is not a hiccup, I think the mayor’s salary needs a little increase,” Alderman Ted Stewart said. “For the size of this city, the mayor’s salary is not even close to anybody’s around here,” he added. Stewart said that he had spoken with mayors in similarly-sized cities whose salaries far exceed that of Mayor Jerry Autrey.
“I’m not, I’m not, I’m fine,” Autrey said, stuttering.

Alderman Bill Dugger said that his review of a survey by the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University indicated that Mississippi mayors’ salaries varied greatly with little consistency.

“I would not be opposed to that,” Alderman Eddie Nabors said, weighing in on the idea of a raise for the mayor. “You haven’t lobbied for that.”

CPA Crawford recommended that the mayor leave the room to allow aldermen to continue the discussion.

“You know this could work both ways,” Alderman Bill Dugger quipped as Autrey left the room.
“Ted, I’m glad you brought this up because I’ve been thinking about this myself for awhile,” Alderman Stan Harrison said.

During the mayor’s absence, aldermen discussed the mayor’s status as part-time.

“It’s certainly a bigger job than it was nine years ago,” Nabors said, referring to mayor’s first year in office when his present salary was set.

After a short discussion over an amount, Stewart made a motion to raise the mayor’s annual salary by $5,000. The motion was passed by a 4-0 vote with Vice-Mayor Teddy Morrow presiding in the mayor’s absence.

The elected officials directed Crawford to prepare a budget reflecting the changes and leaving the millage rate unchanged at 28.05.

“I can’t remember the last time the city raised millage,” the CPA said, referring to general fund millage. He said that revenue bond millage had been added to finance the library’s construction and then removed when the bonds were paid.

The city officials set Tuesday, August 27 as the date for a public hearing on the budget. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. in the city hall and will follow two legal publications providing budget detail in the August 20 and 27 editions of The Panolian.