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Funding woes threaten Pearl River district
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
July 14, 2009 |
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A timetable for possibly closing a regional development agency often used by city and county officials for grant funding opportunities sped up Monday with the loss of a major contributor, forcing local leaders to more quickly consider searching for new assistance.
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If the Pearl River Basin Development District - a public improvement association of counties along the Pearl River - is forced to close, Lincoln County will save almost $57,000 in annual contributions, but it will lose a source of grant funding that has paid out approximately $325,000 since 2007 and more than $1 million since the county joined in 1968.
The district also provides the county with an annual recreation grant of $4,000, as well as water table analysis and other services. It also was instrumental in the creation of Lake Lincoln many years ago.
"I hate to see them go from the standpoint of the potential - they could help us with projects (in the future)," said Lincoln County Administrator David Fields. "For the last three years it's been very good for us."
PRBDD is losing nearly half its funding with Hinds County's decision to leave the district, taking with it more than $400,000 of the district's almost $1 million annual budget.
PRBDD Executive Director Mike Davis said the district will operate with no problems this year, but will be looking at a "close the door type situation" beginning July 1, 2010. The district had hoped to acquire around $750,000 from the Legislature this year, but it was left out of the budget.
The only other option for funding, Davis said, is to ask member counties to double their contributions from a quarter-mill to a half-mill. He said preliminary discussions indicate some counties would opt to pull out of the district rather than double their payments.
"They just don't have the money themselves to double their payment to the district and that's basically about what it would take," Davis said. "I don't see things improving a whole lot between now and this fall when we make presentations to the Legislative Budget Office."
Over the last few years, PRBDD has funneled the most local assistance to the development of the Lincoln County Multi-Purpose Facility. District grants to the facility include a 50 percent matching grant of $250,000 for the construction of the developing RV park and $72,500 for erosion control.
Facility manager Quin Jordan said he would seek funding assistance for the complex from Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks if PRBDD closes next year.
"We are starting to look outside for conservation dollars for our landscaping and erosion control," he said. "If PRBDD does cease to exist come June 2010, there will be a tremendous hole left in the system for obtaining grants that will benefit Lincoln and surrounding counties."
Brookhaven Recreation Department Director Terry said PRBDD has been a big help for both the city and county for years. Not only did the district help pay for the new walking trail at City Park, but has helped build smaller structures and provide assistance with engineering and even horticulture, he said.
"We got all kinds of help," Reid said. "We just had to make a phone call. We'll miss 'em."
Fields said one of the county's biggest concerns about the possible loss of PRBDD is the condition of county water tables. The district conducts annual examinations of local underground water tables and provides county supervisors with detailed analysis.
"We'll have to have some kind of environmental engineering firm or something do that," Fields guessed.
The district has been in a state of decline even before the legislative budget crunch and the loss of Hinds County, Davis said. With the district's expenditures exceeding revenue for several years, a number of employees - faced with the possibility of PRBDD's closure - have moved to the private sector and to other state agencies, he said.
Despite Hinds County's pullout from PRBDD, the district still plans to spend approximately $300,000 there by the end of 2009, Davis said.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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