28 Aug 2014 Public Hearing on the 2015 Tunica County Budget

28 Aug 2014: Board of Supervisors’ Public Hearing Meeting @ 5p

The situation we find ourselves in tonight is serious.  We can compare ourselves to admiring a dollar item in a candy store and only having a quarter in our pocket.

Let’s look at it another way.  During the Bush Administration 2 wars were fought by our brave military for something we didn’t need and the financial costs of those 2 wars were not added to our national debt.  That was until President Obama came into office.  Now the costs of these wars and other expenses are staring us in the face.

That’s where we are in Tunica County.  Past Supervisors have run-up enormous debt and our current Board is having to deal with it.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. One of the constant costs to Tunica County is the cost of lawsuits.  I didn’t see this reflected in the Power Point presentation we saw on Monday night.  It is my understanding that many of these lawsuits come from the Sheriff’s Department and account for an annual expense of around $350,000.

Is this correct?  There was no answer.

Are most of these suits filed by current and former employees of the Sheriff’s Department?  There was no answer.

*at this point, there was an outburst by the Sheriff

Here is my suggestion:  We now have an HR Manager, Mr. Oliver.  This new position should help to cut down on future lawsuits but what about current suits?  Can these costs and settlements be taken out of departmental budgets?

2. Since 2008, the Transparency Committee has been asking this Board and the previous Board about transferring the Tunica National groundskeeper’s salary to Kemper Sports.  All I keep hearing is “we’re working on it.”  Stop talking and do it.  In the last 6 years, we have spent around $600,000 on this position.  Vote to do this today…please.  Either Kemper Sports accepts this decision or they can hire someone else at their expense.

3. After school programs, mentoring and the Summer Jobs Program:  It is my understanding that the Tunica County School District has between 9 and 10 million dollars in reserve.  Perhaps the School Board would vote to take over these programs not just because they have the money but because these programs fall into their sphere of expertise. 

4. The Stennis Report: Our Committee spent a good deal of time analyzing this study.  Our full report can be found at our blog under 3 Feb 2014.  One of the items the report pointed out is that our salary structure can be divided into thirds.  One third is over paid; one third is underpaid and one third is just right.  In considering our 2015 budget, this needs to be addressed.  However, this is not the big take away in the Stennis findings.

Stennis compared Tunica County, MS to Credo Parrish, LA.  Both locations have gambling.  Tunica County has 11,000 residents.  Credo Parrish has 258,000 residents.  And here’s the rub:  Credo Parrish has 30 more employees then Tunica County.  Tunica County has 23 times per capita more employees then Credo Parrish.  Again, sadly it has been proven that we have been happily living way beyond our means.

End of Presentation at the Public Hearing

5. Back to the Sheriff’s Department:  For those of you who don’t know, the salaries of MS Sheriffs are set by the MS Legislature.  This year under House Bill HR1409 our Sheriff received a raise of $10,000 plus rebates on taxes which brings Sheriff Hamp’s salary to $80,000 a year starting on 1 Jul 2014. 

 Are all of these numbers correct?

What was very interesting about this legislation is that all other counties had a reason such as an increase in responsibilities next to the amount of the increase.  There was no reason given for the Tunica County Sheriff and Tunica County was the only County without a given rationale.

In conclusion please consider:

1. Charging the costs of lawsuits and settlements to the department involved.
2. Move the groundskeeper’s salary to Kemper Sports.
3. Ask the School Board to consider funding after school programs, mentoring and Summer Jobs Programs.
4. Lower the Sheriff’s budget by $10,000 to accommodate for the legislative raise.

More will be listed as we go along on our blog.  

BTW, I thought you would like to know that our blog has almost 16,000 hits and only a handful of comments.  This should tell this Board something about the level of fear in this County.