Jason Dustin
jdustin@starherald.net
Mississippi State Senate Bill 2002, which passed last week, designated some $1.4 million to fund projects in Attala County.
Kosciusko will receive $750,000, Attala County will receive $450,000, Ethel $100,000 and Sallis will receive $100,000.
The bill restructures how annual payments made to the state by BP in relation to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill are allocated.
Through August of this year, all funds were deposited into the “Budget Contingency Fund,” according to SB 2002. Beginning in September, and as outlined in SB 2002, 75 percent of each annual payment will be deposited into the newly created “Gulf Coast Restoration Fund" and 25 percent into the “State BP Settlement Fund”, both of which were created in Section 2 of the bill.
The Attala County, Ethel, Kosciusko and Sallis funds are to be drawn from the State BP Settlement Fund, and are earmarked as follows:
Kosciusko
South Huntington St. and other street improvements - $750,000
Attala County
Attala County Road 2221/Airport Road paving and rehabilitation - $150,000
Jack Post Manufacturing Building (formerly) parking lot resurfacing - $150,000
Justice Court parking lot resurfacing - $150,000
Ethel
Road resurfacing - $100,000
Sallis
Road resurfacing - $100,000
The language contained in the bill states that funds are to be used to “assist” a county or municipality “in paying the costs of” a designated project.
The good news was fresh and local officials were unable to share any definite, approved plans.
Attala County Engineer Christian Gardner affirmed that there have been tentative plans for all three of the county projects noted in the bill. However, he stated the Board of Supervisors had yet to meet and are unlikely to announce any definite plans immediately. The funds allocated for the property formerly known as the Jack Post Manufacturing Building, which is owned by the county, do not indicate that there are any new plans for the property, according to Kosciusko Attala Partnership Executive Director Darren Milner.
Ethel Mayor Gwen Sims said that she will recommend to the town’s Board of Aldermen that the funds be used for repairs to Drake Road.. It is her hope that the repairs would begin at the intersection of Drake Road and Hannah St., and that paving would continue as far as the money allowed.
Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft did say that the there is a possibility that some of the money could be used to create bike lanes along South Huntington St. that would connect downtown with the Natchez Trace Parkway.
District 48 Representative and House Rules Chairman Jason White said that the bill was in response to concerns by some representatives that infrastructure projects they had submitted for inclusion into the Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2018 (HB 1) might not receive funding. In attempt to reassure members and distribute the monies fairly, $50 million that had been bonded as part of HB 1 was coupled with the funds designated in SB 2002.
Mississippi will receive $40 million annually for the next 15 years according to the terms of the BP settlement, White said.
“I was certainly pleased and elated that our area received so much,”White said. “Our district received a little north of $3 million worth of (funding), so I’m extremely pleased with that.”
