A penny for your thoughts
If I had a penny for every time I thought extending Southaven’s onecent sales tax on restaurants would be easy and devoid of drama, I could fund the city’s park improvements for the next 10 years.
Continuing taxes in Mississippi by extending the “repealer” provision built into many local taxes is common practice. That was true with Southaven’s “Penny For Your Parks” when legislators first extended the 2011 tax in 2014. Aldermen late last year, as expected, passed a resolution calling for another three-year extension during the current legislative session.
When Mayor Darren Musselwhite announced in December his re-election bid in this year’s municipal elections, he touted the tax’s benefits to the city as one of the accomplishments of his first time. The city funded major improvements to the baseball complex and the amphitheater at Snowden Grove Park, opened a senior citizen complex in the park and is expanding the tennis complex — all compliments of the $1.9 million in revenue generated by the tax last year, with minimal impact to the wallets of Southaven residents since much of the restaurant sales tax comes from nonresidents.
But then along came the DeSoto County Conservative Coalition, an antitax group that contends the city should hold a referendum and allow voters to decide if the tax should continue rather than depending on legislators to keep it going indefinitely. The group’s position has gained traction with DeSoto County’s House delegation, all first-term legislators even more fiscally conservative than the fellow Republican lawmakers they turned out of office two years ago.
Musselwhite, at the Feb. 7 Board of Aldermen meeting, let his exasperation show over the prospect of losing a somewhat benign form of taxation. After DeSoto County Conservative Coalition member Graziella Fichthorn took issue with the tax extension, an emotional Musselwhite practically begged her and, by extension, other opponents to see what he believes is the wisdom of his way.
Teacher of the Year
It happened a little too late to reflect on it in last week’s Crossing the Line, but here’s another shout-out to Center Hill High School teacher Judith Terry, DeSoto County Schools Teacher of the Year.
Terry’s selection was announced Feb. 6.
Terry, who teaches math at the Olive Branch school, had an inspiring story to tell as she discussed her selection. A car accident when she was 15 years old put an end to her dream of being a large animal veterinarian, a job she said puts a tremendous strain on the body.
She then turned her focus to education, and a mentor — her high school agriculture teacher — helped point her in the right direction.
“When I decided it was time I needed to do this teaching thing,” Terry recalled, “I was juggling in my mind agriculture and math. He’s the one who talked to me about the greater need, and I decided that was math.”