Video: Winston County Public Hearing On Budget

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Louisville, Miss. (WCBI) — Balancing the demand for services with keeping taxes low never is easy. But for Winston County leaders, a tough job is made even tougher in the wake of April’s devastating tornado.

It’s been an extremely trying year for Winston County Supervisors who must get the budget numbers right while not raising taxes for the next fiscal year.

“There was such an overwhelming need to just keep everything the same, you know. Because it’s been a hard year,” said Joe McCraney, Budget Consultant.

“We are experiencing about $3 million of a loss assessed value, which in turn is less revenue. But on the heels of the storm and the tragedy that this county has been through, we just didn’t feel that raising taxes was the answer to this problem,” said Mike Peterson/Winston County Board of Supervisors President.

Having to haggle over the budget means supervisors had to have an extra sharp pencil… making every dollar left after the tornado count. And that’s after using reserve funds to help balance the budget.

“The board went through every budget, kept the levy the same at 40 mills and tried to help the people out because of the devastation that occurred this year,” said McCraney.

Tough decisions mean the property tax rate will be the same as it has for the last 20 years.

“We anticipate people building back and assessed value going up. Our plywood plant which is been down for several years is coming back on board bigger and better than ever,” said Peterson.

Citizens attending Tuesday’s public hearing were allowed to speak on the budget before the vote was taken. About 30 percent of the budget is financed through the Ad Valorem Tax.