MISSISSIPPI MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT WEEK — JANUARY 14-20
Each year, Mississippi Municipal Government Week draws attention to the critical role local government plays in
our communities. To take a closer look at what goes into those efforts behind the scenes, The Star-Herald spoke with the mayors of Ethel and Kosciusko.
In an interview about the role of local government in the life of communities, Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said he wishes more citizens would get involved in helping determine the direction of Kosciusko.
“It would be nice to be able to help people be more involved, to come to meetings or come sit and talk to us,” he said. “We can explain what the issues are so people can better understand what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Apart from the things most recognize as being the purview of local government — trash collection, schools, roads, etc. — Cockroft said there are always lesser-known efforts being undertaken by local officials to help the community.
One such effort that Kosciusko is endorsing is the Mississippi Municipal League efforts to lobby the state Legislature to increase the diversion of sales taxes to municipalities from 18% to 20%.
Cockroft is past president of the Mississippi Municipal League and currently serves on its Executive and Legislative committees.
Right now, Kosciusko receives 18% of the seven percent sales tax collected by the state in Kosciusko, for a total of about $2 million per year. The proposed increase could mean an additional $150,000 coming to the city coffers without increasing taxes.
Cockroft also noted that Mississippi cities do not share in sales taxes the state collects from online sales because they are classified as a “use” tax, rather than a sales tax.
“We’re looking to have the cities included in the use tax from online sales,” he said.
Online sales do double damage to small cities like Kosciusko. They not only reduce sales tax revenues to the city, but they also sometimes cost local brick-and-mortar businesses enough revenue that local retailers cannot stay afloat. That worsens the situation by reducing the city property tax collections and costing local people jobs, as well.
Lost revenue combined with increasing costs means the city is increasingly less able to undertake projects like repaving roads.
In 1998, the city took out a 10-year, $2 million bond and paved all the roads that needed it.
In 2008, a 15-year, $2.5 million bond only funded repaving about half of the same amount of roads as in 1998.
To try to raise additional funds independent of state and property taxes, cities have previously sought authority from the legislature to levy a local optional sales tax. With the endorsement of 60% of voters, cities would be able to tax local sales at a rate of one cent per dollar.
According to Cockroft, that type of effort could gain Kosciusko an additional $800,000 in annual revenues to fund road, water and sewer projects.
The state legislature, however, has refused to share taxation authority with local governments.
One effort currently being pushed is the Local Government Debt Collection Act, which would need to be approved by the state Legislature.
Cities are currently on their own trying to collect traffic fines, water bills and other similar monies due from residents. If the state withheld these unpaid monies from taxpayers’ state tax refunds and it was split between the city and state, both would see gain.
“We are owed about $1.4 million in fines. Some of these people are getting large refunds from filing their state taxes,” said Cockroft. If the fines were deducted from the potential refunds, the city and state would each garner about $700,000 in additional revenue.
Local officials, including Cockroft, are meeting with colleagues at the Mid-Winter Legislative Conference of the Mississippi Municipal League to present a united front to the legislature and try to move some of these proposals forward.
