Jackson voters will decide on August 7 whether to approve a $65 million bond issue for the Jackson Public School District. The Jackson City Council approved placing the referendum on the ballot on August 11. The vote was unanimous.
JPS provided a list of proposed projects to the City Council. However, the cost of those projects is only $30.5 million. $34.5 million is unaccounted for on the list. Councilmen Dekether Stamps and Aaron Banks questioned the referendum. It was clear the City Council favored placing the referendum on the November ballot but changed its mind when the JPS financial advisor, Nnmandi Thompson* of Government Consultants, Inc., said that the interest rate would probably increase "25 to 50 basis points" if the referendum was delayed until November. He said that such an increase would cost the district "$3 to 4 million." The Council held its vote only a couple of minutes after receiving this information.
JPS Chief Financial Officer Sharolyn Miller said that $15 million was required to address MDE's corrective action plan. She said many of the projects included HVAC repairs, bathroom renovations, and upgrading libraries. $1.5 million would be spent on a baseball/softball complex. JPS has no working baseball fields for its high school teams and out of town schools refuse to play at JPS facilities. The list of projects is posted below. Ms. Miller acknowledged many of the projects concerned maintenance. She said that the maintenance budget last year was "only $500,000."
Ms. Miller said that the bond issue will replace debt that will retire this year and thus "roll off the books." She said homeowners would not see an increase in their property taxes since it would merely replace the property taxes they are already paying.
Kingfish note: Oddly enough, Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote sat silently during most of the finance-oriented discussion. He asked one question about the maintenance budget. No questions were asked about fees. Just silence. In the end, he voted for placing the referendum on the ballot.
*Mr. Thompson is a SEC-registered Municipal Advisor.
32 comments:
Ashby needs a Foote up his arse... this guy is lame and will go soon... so sick of him. I won't vote for him again. Might as well just have an empty seat representing Ward 1 rather than an empty suit! How bad can one be? He sets the bar for ineffective leadership.
Anyone know the requirements for approval?
I've heard the number 60% voter approval. If so, would that be 60% of the votes cast or 60% of the registered voters? If the former, nice of them to schedule the vote when most of Jackson is out of town trying to grab one last week or weekend off before school starts. Shame on me to think that was their intention all along....Nice to see no one asked the financial adviser where he got his date on interest rates....
If Othor Cain is promoting it then I'm opposed to it. Just listen to the guy speak or his agenda. He's a real mental giant let me tell you!!! Sarcasm intended!
We know for sure that interest rates are going up in the next six months? I better call my broker!
So they're asking us to approve borrowing 65 million but only telling us where or for what they need 30.5 million and not the other 34.5 million. That makes my vote easy...No. If you want me to vote to approve 65 million, tell me why you need 65 million, not just 30.5 million. It's very easy and something the JPS Board should be willing and able to do.
Would each Board member be willing to personally guarantee a loan for a friend of 65,000 when the friend has only said they need 30,500 without asking their friend why the need twice as much ?
"JPS has no working baseball fields for its high school teams and out of town schools refuse to play at JPS facilities" Can JPS not use Smith-Wills? however, if JPS has no working baseball fields where do they practice?
60% of votes cast
The real reason JPS wants the August election is turnout. The interest rate story is just the latest 'reason' (reads better with 'excuse') that they have drug across this littered street.
Fed has been raising short term rates, but so far there has been no significant tic in long-term rates. Government Consultants is earning their fee by being willing to throw this red herring into the mix attempting to give cover for this screwup.
Cost to run November election: $0.00
Cost to run August election: $500,000
"But, we aren't worried about costs, or expenses - we need to paint the buildings for the chillen."
Early August election - low turnout, easier to get to 60%. November election with two Senate races - much harder to reach the threshold. And after Derrick Johnson earns his big get out the vote fee, they assume this will sail through while the taxpayers are still unaware of their scam.
Need an uprising of taxpaying voters to step up and fight this deal; make them come back with a realist proposal, fix their annual budgeting so that they aren't borrowing money for short term maintenance needs, and tell the taxpayers what they are proposing to do and the costs for each. Until this great new governance experiment steps up to the plate and acts responsibly, you can count me and my household as a NO.
"Stronger schools" WTF does that mean? That sounds like a Marxist utopia jingle.
BOHICA!
Imagine that the Madison or Rankin County school districts were trying to pull this stunt. Democrats, their sycophants and fawning media would be outraged.
I can remember Wingfield going to state championships playing out of Leavell Woods park. Why does JPS suddenly need its own fields?
And only 50% of the ask is accounted for? That's some special budgeting math they got going there.
Honestly, it's been a while since I've calculated bond interest, so I'm not sure if the promised 25 to 50 bp increase will cover the 500k price tag of the election. Maybe it will.
Rankin school bond failed while it listed athletic facilities as a item. Also, why can't they use city parks for fields. I can't understand this. It's more than reasonable. Either way I'm voting NO.
Lower left hand of page 4A of the CL this morning had the public notice for JPS's public hearing about Ad Valorem "effort." The effort "may result in an increase in the ad valorem tax millage rate." May, my ass.
I'm sick of jps!!! Tired of them screwing taxpayers with no accountability. Of course I'm represented by Ashby Foote so no wonder I have no representation..
Amusing to see Othor and his readers, including the know-everything Kaze, get flummoxed over how Jackson has spent $250,000 producing/promoting various music events in the city and yet they have expressed no heartburn whatsoever about the mad rush to pass this $65,000,000 JPS bond issue including the slush fund. Few days back a commenter over at Othorworld tried to encourage a discussion of the bond fees as detailed by KF's reporting but soon after posting a link to JJ the link got shitcanned.
Ashby "Yeller" Foote. Sell the people of your district on down the river once again! I live in his district and have emailed him dozens of times on street conditions, etc. Never once received a reply correspondence. That's about the level of representation that was show in that meeting. JUST VOTE NO! Too much grease and pork in a bond like this, and absolutely no prospective oversight from the city. You'll certainly see property taxes increase if this passes.
Foote's unresponsive and your taxes mught go up? Ward 7's representative would like you to hold her beer. She's lobbying the Legislature for CIDs so she can raise the taxes on her constituents beyond what the city is doing. Read the bill that died. She was straight up going to raise taxes then give the spending authorization to her neighborhood foundation. Huge give away to the neighborhood multi property owners and the church and hospital filling her "non-profit's" coffers. Guess she wasn't pleased that enough of the proletariet voluntarily signed up.
Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I have a dream of every pothole being filled. I have a dream of lining the pockets of friends with $65 million. I have a dream of creating jobs for one day and pay out $500k for a low turn out vote.i have a dream of baseball fields instead of better education. I have a dream that Arbys will turn the metro into a destination. I have a dream nobody will ever ax me to be accountable for this deep state of lost.
@2:52,
Look... Ashby is a lost cause. He won't email or return calls. I hear it from people on my street and I am 1 block from his house. He's done and NE Jackson is ready for him to be done. I don't know anyone that thinks he's doing well. Let's just acknowledge that Ashby isn't worth much and move on to the next one.
85% of Jackson is D. 15% is R. 60% approval is needed for the bond to pass. So if all 15% of the Rs mobilize and vote NO...it might make a difference. Turnout is the key. The Rs need to realize the Ds are voting not for their money to be used but the Rs....as the Rs are the majority of all taxes in the city. It's a no-brainer for the Ds as they have NEVER voted NO when it comes to spending other people's money.
Also, it will be curious to see how many R homes are actually visited by Bond Supporters as proposed by the mayor and his team (local news stations reported that JPS/Mayor said 60,000 homes in Jackson are going to visited in person by a bond supporter and surveyed).
So is the mayor now the superintendent and in charge over JPS now?
The mayor is in charge anywhere there is money he can steal, and blame the white man..
@ 7:29
They won't set foot in NE Jackson and probably won't mention anything about the cote... they don't want us going to vote against it. Even though we know and they also know its ward 1 that will pay for it. These people at JPS know nothing about money and how it works. The clown show with them up there in front of microphone was like a comedy skit. If it wasn't so sad it would be laughing. Also put Othor Cain in this clown group. Total idiot.
Come on folks, bonds are free money, just like federal grants. Have faith in the decisions of the city council, as they are the best that money can buy.
After all, it's for the chillens.
Take a look at the One Voice job application for this "canvassing" effort. Any stiff with a pulse encouraged to apply.
The people that are pushing this and the doors being knocked on are from low income areas mainly and pay very few taxes. So yes to them it's free money... they couldn't earn a penny in the real world thank goodness for.public sector or these spines would be out a job. Othor Cain... isn't he the person who thinks he represents entire populations of people. He's a racist pig. His pic will tell you that though.
I guess Councilman Stokes had better things to do.HuH
I guess Councilman Stokes had better things to do.HuH
He heard a cheeseburger calling his name.
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
Courtesy of Margaret Thatcher
This Just In: Since Feel is responsible, he's called a special session for the week of July 9 to deal with this here mess. Legislators from counties with wealthier school districks will be axed to chip in and float JPS outa this budget shortfall. Feel realize his mistake and want to take full credik and axe for absolution and forgivables. Mr/Mrs Hyde-Wicker will have opening remarks.
I live in the city of Jackson and my voting place was never opened. Griffith memorial Baptist church. why is this???
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