UPDATED: Opinion in the Tunica Times - Wyatt Emmerich

Well, I've just spent my evening writing the following post when I could have been reading or quilting or knitting or talking with a few residents of Beat 2.  It makes me so angry when people write about Tunica without knowing the facts. 

We have people running for office in Tunica County who don't know the first thing about what it takes to be a Supervisor.  And, they have lots of money behind them.  These people don't want what is best for Tunica.  They want what is best for themselves and their friends.  Don't let them buy your vote.  Don't stand for people being on our ballot who don't live here.  People are coming out of the woodwork to run for office when they don't even attend Supervisors' Meetings.  Our situation is too
serious to take a chance on anyone who is not involved.

In Beat 2, we have 8 candidates on the Ballot.  Four are running on 4 Aug and then there will be 5 on 3 Nov 2015.  I will be on the ballot on 3 Nov.  I'm not a relative of anyone in Tunica County or the State of Mississippi.  I've done the work.  I've spent years learning about our government and I am ready to go to work.   I'm asking for your vote and your support.  I won't let you down.

Read this post and then reread this post.  Decide for yourself who got us into this financial position.  For sure, it wasn't Phillis Williams, Sonny Nickson or McKinley Daley.  It is dishonest for anyone to blame these Supervisors for the mess we are in.

This post is being written in response to Wyatt Emmerich’s Opinion piece in the 5 Jun 2015 issue of the Tunica Times.   

Let’s start with who were the Supervisors during the years, starting with 2001. 

2001: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, Jackson, Pegram

2002: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, Jackson, Pegram

2003: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, Jackson, Pegram

2004: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2005: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2006: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2007: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2008: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2009: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2010: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2011: Dunn, Burnett, Battle III, B Williams, Pegram

2012: Dunn, Burnett, P Williams, Nickson, Daley

2013: Dunn, Burnett, P Williams, Nickson, Daley

2014: Dunn, Burnett, P Williams, Nickson, Daley

 

For the sake of brevity, I am only going to write about two statements in this column. 

The first statement is: “In 2007, Tunica County received a whopping $32 million in gaming revenue.  That number has almost been cut in half, prompting the board of supervisors to attempt to raise taxes by millions.  The county is $70 million in debt and broke.”  Before continuing I want to ask: “Mr. Emmerich, who told you we are broke?  Did you talk with our County Administrator or our Comptroller?” 

Here is a list of our income starting with 2007: 

2007: $32.8M

2008: $37.7M

2009: $27.7M

2010: $24.9M

2011: $22.0M

2012: $22.5M

2013: $20.7M

2014: $18.4M 

Notice how our gaming revenue decreased over the years.  Who were the Supervisors during these years?  Why didn’t these Supervisors raise taxes to compensate for this loss of income?  At home, if your income goes down you have 2 choices: Cut expenses and/or earn more income.  Who doesn't know that?

During the following years, bonds were issued to build various facilities without the benefit of a feasibility study for any of these projects.  Who were the Supervisors?  Did these Supervisors think they could just make decisions like this without first doing their due diligence? 

2001: $30M in bonds issued for the Arena

2001: $3M in bonds issued for the Tunica Museum

2003: $15M in bonds issued for the Airport Expansion

2004: $26M in bonds issued for the River Park and Museum

2004: $17M in bonds issued for the Golf Course and Tennis Complex

 

This list totals $91M in bond debt. 

As the following list will show, it wasn’t until 2013 that any millage was put on the books to service the above bond debt.  Who were the Supervisors?  The Supervisors who voted for this millage are the Supervisors that Mr. Emmerich refers to as “the three-supervisor voting bloc”.  Yes Mr. Emmerich, these three Supervisors had the guts to start cleaning up the mess created by the Supervisors who were in office prior to them taking office in 2012.  If these three Supervisors had not voted in the 15.77 mills for debt service, we would have defaulted on our bonds.  Bonds, that “the three-supervisor voting bloc” did not issue as they didn’t come into office until 1 Jan 2012.

(General Fund: GF; Road Fund: RF; Bond Debt: BD)

2007: GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2008: GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2009: GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2010; GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2011: GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2012: GF: 8.75; RF: 0; BD: 0

2013: GF: 9.14; RF: 0; BD: 15.77

2014: GF: 9.14; RF: 0; BD: 15.00

The second statement is: “Tunica supervisors stuck it to the casinos, raising their taxes 50 percent, a move the casinos called ‘crippling’.”  Mr. Emmerich are you referring to “the three-supervisor voting bloc”?  If so, you are wrong.  The Supervisors who “stuck it” to all of us were in office prior to 2012.  All of us have the same taxes due that the casinos have to pay based on our own accessed value.  All of us had our taxes increased about 50%.  We didn't have a choice because defaulting on our bonds was not an option. 

 
Mr. Emmerich, who helped you write this opinion? I don't believe you have done your  own due diligence and you have been fed a bunch of faulty information for political purposes.  I welcome your comments and/or corrections.





UPDATE:  The 15.77 mills that went into effect in 2013 was passed by the Board of Supervisors on 17 Sep 2012.  Who were the Supervisors?  Dunn, Burnett, P. Williams, Nickson and Daley.  The County Administrator was Clifton Johnson.  I believe Burnett was the only Supervisor to vote no on the tax increase.  I suppose it was okay with him if we defaulted on our bonds.