When the City of Sardis begins its new budget year Oct. 1, it will do so with an operating budget of $1.2 million.

The budget was adopted 3-0 last Thursday with Ward 3 Alderman Mike Wilson and Ward 4 Alderman Rivers McArthur absent.

Included in the new operating budget are two increases; garbage fees and millage.

The city garbage fees will climb from $14 monthly to $17 monthly.

The $3 increase will produce an additional $25,000 in revenue for the city.

"We are one of the few cities these days that offers garbage pick up twice a week," Mayor Alvis "Rusty" Dye said. "This increase will also help us continue offering limb pick-up which is something most cities don’t offer."

Dye said the biggest reason for the increase is to cover the increasing cost of fuel.

"We are doing everything we can to watch out for waste in every area of city government," he said. "We pulled the old limb truck off the streets because it was burning 100 gallons of fuel in a week."

The second increase was to the city’s millage. It was raised from 31.07 to 34.92.

The mayor said the city has not had an increase in ad valorem taxes in a number of years.

"The number we have increased to is still lower than where we were when we paid off a bond issue in the early ?90s," he said. "If it hadn’t been decided to lower the taxes then, this wouldn’t cause so much as a stir."

Both increases occurred after Alderman-at-Large Roy Scallorn pointed out a revenue shortage of approximately $50,000 during a meeting in August.

"He was right. We had to do something to make sure we balanced the budget, and this was the only option," Dye said.

In addition to the tax and garbage fee increase, the city approved an increase in hours for the Municipal Court Clerk Emily Appleton.

"In recent weeks, Miss Emily has been really over-worked with all the additional fine money coming in," City Clerk Odessa Johnson said. "So when we were preparing this budget we increased her hours from 28 per week to 36."

Ward 1 Alderman Joseph "JoJo" Still asked if the hours were to be used only when they were needed.

"She will work as we need her to," Johnson replied. "If the fine collections decrease, her hours will go down as well."

Police Chief Mike Davis said he believed the additional hours would be needed for Appleton.

"The collections through the Mississippi Warrant Network have been good since we started sending them names regularly," he said. "We are hoping we will continue to see a lot of money coming in for collections."
    

Among the topics were standards for childcare facilities in the county and the current minimum lot size for manufactured housing.

The commission members met Monday evening, September 12, at the county courthouse in Batesville.

A source of discussion was the variety of schools – a preschool, a trade school, a private school – and rules and regulations to govern them.

Discussion of childcare facilities comes after Anthony McCoy is working to start a pre-school near his home in the Eureka community.

McCoy has appeared before the commission before regarding his plans but is best known for the so-called "party barn" he sought to open.

In recent months commission members have wrestled with the definition of a "preschool" versus a "daycare" and are now trying to better define those and other schools as well.

Commission consultant Bob Barber and commission attorney Colmon Mitchell were asked to collaborate on that matter, and the commission voted unanimously to hold a public hearing to announce possible ordinances and definitions of various schools that could open in the county.

The state of Mississippi has multiple rules for daycare operations, leaving the commission to re-examine possible rules such as paved parking to see if they overlap state regulations.

Batesville daycare owner and commission member Donna Traywick brought her rule book with her and read aloud the multitude of rules she must follow.

"The state even tells you how big the playground needs to be, and they come with tape and measure it several times," Traywick told her colleagues.

A second topic of discussion was increasing the minimum lot size for manufactured homes located in unincorporated Panola County.

At present the county requires a minimum lot size of one acre for mobile homes with community water and one and a half acres for mobile homes that utilize a well.

Commissioners wrestled with the fact that mobile homes decrease in value, thus lowering their worth, which in turn lowers a county’s taxable base over time.

The question on the table was whether to increase that lot size to two or more acres, which in theory would increase the value of mobile homes.

Commission chairman Danny Walker raised the idea, noting that other Mississippi counties have passed similar land use ordinances.

Commission member Sledge Taylor agreed the issue is important because of its long-term economic impact.

"I think it’s an economic issue because a person is not contributing to the tax base," Taylor told his colleagues. "It gets to the point that the trailer is paying few dollars toward culverts and public schools."

Commission member Danny Jones and other members vocally opposed the idea, however, saying it would hurt homeowners who can’t afford to purchase several acres of land.

"I think you would be penalizing people who start out in a mobile home and now couldn’t afford to start at all," Jones said. "I think it hurts people who are economically disadvantaged."

Commission member Ann Cobb agreed with Jones’s statement.

"I don’t think it’s right that someone can build a $500,000 home on one acre but you need three acres for a $50,000 mobile home," said Cobb.

Jones made a motion to table the discussion until January. His motion died for lack of a second, however, and commission members agreed to discuss the subject again when they meet Monday, October 10.
 

Macedonia Community Center has received another trailer load of hurricane relief supplies – and now Rev. Zannie Leland wants it gone.

Leland, who pastors at the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church and who is among the volunteers who have organized relief distribution through the community center on Curtis Road west of Batesville, said that the goods can be picked up by or delivered to any victims of the recent hurricane. "We just need to get it out," he said.

The trailer arrived from Indiana during the weekend. Supplies donated and trucked to the Panola facility include cots, beds, clothing, food, water, cooking utensils, toys, shoes and personal items, Leland said.

Additional information about picking up goods or having them delivered can be learned by calling the center at (662) 563-5253. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Arrangements can also be made for Sundays, Rev. Leland said.

Leland made calls on Monday to the American Red Cross office in Oxford for additional help in distributing the relief supplies.

"We want to free up the space in the community center, and we don’t want this stuff just sitting here when somebody needs it somewhere," Leland said.