The Mississippi Legislature passed the Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act in a special session that went well into the morning two weeks ago, and the passage of this bill will provide additional monies to all counties and municipalities throughout the state to be spent directly on local infrastructure.
The modernization act will be funded through online sales tax and will provide badly needed additional funds for local municipalities to add with their current infrastructure spending. The City of Forest stands to receive just over $230,000 to add to their yearly expenditures to aid in speeding on local road and other infrastructure repairs and projects.
The bill was not passed by the legislature to take the place of the City of Forest’s current infrastructure expenditures, it is specifically earmarked to add to the already scheduled budget in the hopes this infusion of funds will help the city tackle needed issues at a faster rate. State Representative Tom Miles said as this bill is phased in it should give our local municipalities a monetary shot in the arm to get busy with numerous planned projects that may have been on hold.
“The bill will be phased in over four years and will give the county and local municipalities a flow of money specifically for improvement of local roads and additional infrastructure improvement plans that have been needed,” Miles said. “The money will be collected and distributed from the collection of taxes from online sales and the legislature created a formula that takes into consideration each towns population as well as the amount of taxes that will be collected from local citizens.”
Forest Mayor Nanacy Chambers said that when the bill was finally passed it was a little different than when it was initially explained. “Speaker Gunn originally told us what the bill was and what it was for, but when it was passed it came through a little different than originally explained,” said Chambers. “Even though the bill underwent some changes I assure you we can work with it here in Forest.”
Forest is expecting an initial $10,000 immediately to get started and as the bill is phased in over four years the city looks to receive upwards of $230,000 each year to add to their infrastructure spending. “It is my understanding that the legislature took an average of our five year spending history and we will be required to maintain that average amount of spending on our local streets and infrastructure in order to keep receiving the additional funds,” Chambers said. “Because of this bill we feel like we will be able to do much more work at a faster rate.”
Chambers said that the passing of the modernization act shows that the legislature is ready to act on the concerns that have been growing around the state. “This is the beginning of this process and it really shows us that the legislature is concerned about improvements throughout the state,” the mayor added.
Miles said that he has been fighting to get funding for infrastructure and special projects. “This bill addresses a need that has been building here locally and when the bill is fully implemented we will have an influx of approximately 1 million dollars in Scott County directly reserved for repairs and upgrades to infrastructure,” he said.
Mayor Chambers said that the most direct impact that local citizens will see and experience will be primarily to city streets. “This is local money that is directed to be spent on local streets, roads and infrastructure and not for state maintained highways like Highway 80 which is the responsibility of Mississippi Department of Transportation,” she said. “When fully implemented this bill will help a lot. Any help from the legislature is greatly appreciated by the City of Forest.”
