Jackson Free Press

Bidding on 360 parcels of tax-forfeited property will begin tomorrow, city and state officials said today.

The Mississippi Secretary of State holds properties when owners fail to pay ad valorem property taxes, which provides funding to city and county governments as well as local schools. Of the approximately $75 million in forfeited land the SOS holds, almost $15 million of it lies with in Hinds County, according to a Jackson city press release.

“Our goal is to get this property back on the tax rolls to benefit the capital city and the State of Mississippi,” said Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann through a news release. “By partnering with the City of Jackson, we are taking an aggressive step to return these dilapidated and abandoned properties to productive use.”

The available properties will be advertised for public bidding beginning, Thursday, Aug. 27 on the Secretary of State's website: http://www.sos.ms.gov/PublicLands/Jackson.

Shortly after taking office last year, Mayor Tony Yarber's administration tackled problem properties.

"Our Community Improvement Division has made great strides over the past year ridding areas of dilapidated structures that mar our neighborhoods. Now, this auction will give citizens the opportunity to purchase property and play a vital role in Jackson's revitalization," Yarber said in the press release.

Only 8 percent of registered voters participated in yesterday's local Democratic runoff elections.

With such low participation, it undoubtedly helped community activist Kathy Sykes, who had wide support among progressive grassroots groups and fellow activists. It's also a majority black district. Sykes is African American; her opponent, attorney, Sam Begley is white. In unofficial county results, Sykes defeated Begley with 54 percent of votes to Begley's 46 percent. Begley wrote on Facebook last night saaying while he appeated to "come up short," he has a responsibility to his supporters to canvass the boxes to "confirm the correct result." The winner of that contest will face Republican Pete Perry in November.

Meanwhile, another community activist, David Archie had less success in his bid for Hinds County Board of Supervisors against incumbent Darrel McQuirter. Before the runoff, McQuirter seemed vulnerable considering that on Aug. 4, he won 44 percent of the votes against Archie and former Supervisor Al Hunter, both of whom have battled McQuirter in past elections. It seemed conceivable that Hunter's supporters would prefer Archie, but in the end McQuirter received 57 percent of votes.

The other Hinds County supervisors' runoff ended with Bobcat McGowan, a county employee, defeating Eric Stringfellow, a public-relations professional and former Clarion-Ledger columnist. McGowan seemed to have solid backing among some local black talk-radio talking heads, but didn't do media interviews, including with the JFP.

Finally, Hinds County race of interest, veteran legislator Rep. Mary Coleman defeated Robert Amos for central-district rep to the Mississippi Transportation Commission.

Here are the totals for Hinds County from the county's website:

 TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 110 OF 113 PRECINCTS COUNTED 97.35%) Robert Amos. . . . . . . . . . 2,274 20.80 Mary H. Coleman . . . . . . . . 8,614 78.80 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 44 .40 HOUSE DISTRICT 70 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 17 OF 18 PRECINCTS COUNTED 94.44%) Samuel Lee Begley. . . . . . . . 953 46.02 Kathy Sykes. . . . . . . . . . 1,114 53.79 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .19 SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 2 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 29 OF 29 PRECINCTS COUNTED) David L. Archie . . . . . . . . 2,001 42.64 Darrel McQuirter . . . . . . . . 2,688 57.28 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .09 SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 5 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 26 OF 27 PRECINCTS COUNTED 96.30%) Bobby "Bobcat" McGowan . . . . . . 1,221 53.93 Eric Stringfellow. . . . . . . . 1,035 45.72 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 8 .35 

It's back to school time which means time to figure out financial aid, student loans and other expenses for most college students. Smart Asset, a financial advising website, has created a Student Loan Calculator for students to estimate how much they will owe monthly and in total by the time they walk across the stage. The website also ranks each state's colleges and universities by their best monetary value (think starting salaries for graduates, retention rates, tuition costs, etc.).

Here are Mississippi's Top Colleges and Universities ranked by 'Best Value':

• Mississippi University for Women
• University of Mississippi
• Mississippi State University
• Jackson State University
• Delta State Universitiy
• University of Southern Mississippi
• Mississippi College

See how your college or university stacks up here.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/aug/25/22668/

The Jackson City Council outlined more than $7 million in savings in order to avoid Mayor Tony Yarber's proposal to furlough city workers and raise local property taxes to fill a budget hole.

Yarber proposed a one-day-per-month furlough for full-time employees and a property tax increase of 8 percent to shore up a projected $15 million deficit.

Council President Melvin Priester Jr. presented an alternative, a 10-point plan consisting mostly of freezing job vacancies that are budgeted for but currently unfilled in addition to making other staffing cuts.

Council members say they're double-checking the numbers, and will provide final totals later. The plan, the details of which were outlined in a public meeting this afternoon at city hall, includes:

• Reducing the Jackson Zoo's requested allocation in half, from $1.2 million to $600,000

• Reducing certain reserve expenses, including $1.5 million for an expense related to the Jackson Redevelopment Authority that Priester said would not require assistance from the city.

• Freeze more than $2 million slotted for the police, fire, and public works departments.

• Cutting about $494,000 from city hall salaries, including: $200,000 from the city clerk's office, which the council oversees; $200,000 in constituent services, which the mayor's office oversees, $86,000 from the chief-administrative officer's office; and 5 percent from the salaries of city council members. (City council members earn $25,000 per year; the council president receives an extra $2,000.)

• Freeze $120,000 in unfilled positions at municipal court.

• Reducing expenditures on outside consultants by at least $115,000

• Reducing expenses on software and equipment

• Reducing travel, dues and memberships by $95,000

• Reducing expenditures on emergency contracts

• Reducing the Department of Parks and Recreation budget, including for maintenance at the city's golf courses.

In addition, the council plans to introduce plans to increase revenue, including for $20 million in outstanding water and sewer bills.

Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote has proposed using JPD to collect delinquent water bills and splitting the revenue with the department. Foote also suggested turning over management of the golf courses to the Jackson State golf program and letting an organization take over running the Russell C. Davis Planetarium.

Budget Committee Chairman and Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps said he wants the city to get into the asphalt manufacturing and water bottling businesses. He added that the city should charge the state for providing JPD security to the state fair in October. The city has unsuccessfully made the same request of the state over the years.

Yarber's office released a statement this evening: “The Administration will review the City Council’s budget recommendations and consider the proposals going forward. Council members have verbally proposed measures that will ultimately result in mass layoffs, which the Administration had hoped to avoid. I am deeply concerned about the impact on public safety, mainly because council members have proposed significant reductions in the Police Department and the Fire Department. The council has also proposed drastic cuts to the Department of …

On Tuesday, Oxford and Greenwood joined several other Mississippi counties and cities that have removed the state flag from city property. Mississippi is the only (and the last) state with the Confederate symbol on its state flag. An ad that ran this week in the Clarion-Ledger listed over 60 prominent Mississippians including Morgan Freeman, John Grisham, Archie Manning and Kathryn Stockett calling for the state to bring the flag down according to a Washington Post story.

Here is the list of Mississippi cities and local governments that have stopped flying the state flag on city property (so far):

• Oxford
• Greenwood
• Jackson
• Clarksdale
• Columbus
• Hattiesburg
• Grenada
• Leflore County
• Starkville
• Magnolia