By By Chris Allen Baker / staff writer
March 5, 2002
Lauderdale County supervisors say they will consider using available money to pay for capital improvements after killing a plan to establish a $5 million line of credit with the state.
Supervisors rejected the plan Monday when they learned enough residents signed petitions to force a county vote on the issue. The line of credit may not have been available after the vote.
Supervisors voted 3-0 not to apply for the line of credit.
County improvements
The move came more than a month after supervisors voted to establish a line of credit with the Mississippi Development Bank to help fund $8.3 million in capital improvements.
Leaders in Meridian took similar action in January, when they established a $10 million line of credit with the Mississippi Development Bank. City officials have not used any of the money yet.
Some county residents, though, opposed the supervisors' plan.
They feared a line of credit eventually could have raised county taxes. So they mounted a petition drive, collecting 3,913 signatures of residents demanding a countywide vote.
Opponents turned in their petitions Feb. 19.
The county Circuit Clerk's Office then spent the next two weeks trying to certify that at least 1,500 signatures were from registered voters the minimum required to force a vote. Nearly 2,500 signatures were certified.
Simple decision
William Hugh Johnson, a Lauderdale County resident who participated in the petition drive and who attended the Monday meeting, said the board's decision was simple.
Boswell made the motion during the supervisor's meeting to kill the line of credit proposal. Boswell was the only supervisor to oppose the line of credit from the start.
Hitt, though, said the county missed a good opportunity: "At this point the thing for us to do as a board is to withdraw pursuit of the credit line. It is a time to put it to rest."
HOW THEY VOTED
Here is how Lauderdale County supervisors voted Monday on a plan to establish a $5 million line of credit with the state. A "yes" vote was to kill the proposal.
Voting Yes:
Hank Florey, District 1
Craig Hitt, District 3
Ray Boswell, District 5
Voting No: None
Abstaining:
Q.V. Sykes, District 4
Absent:
Jimmie Smith, District 2