Year’s end means time for municipal loans
Hernando OKs plan to make ends meet
The end of the year is approaching, and that means an annual financial juggling act at some city halls to make operational ends meet and ease a cashflow crunch.
Hernando was no exception, as the town’s aldermen approved a two-fold plan this week.
The board adopted a resolu- tion to borrow $300,000 from the utility fund for the general fund for providing city services; also OK’d was a resolution directing city attorney Kenneth Stockton to prepare documents to borrow bank funds, up to $1 million, for the general fund in anticipation of ad valorem tax revenues next year and to advertise for bids. Under state statute, the money must be repaid by March 15.
Michael McLendon, serving his first year as an alderman, asked if there was anything irregular about all this.
“We do it every year,” said a veteran alderman, Gary Higdon.
“The other cities do, too.” It was noted that last year in Hernando, the city borrowed $300,000 from the utility fund and $ 450,000 from a bank.
Alderman Andrew Miller, who says the city needs to address ways to raise revenues, “reluctantly” offered the motion for the utility fund loan. “Everybody’s scared of saying anything about raising taxes,” he said.
In other matters, busy builder Enscor Construc- tion of Arlington, Tenn., snagged another city contract with the lowest bid, $80,420, for a box culvert project at Bella Vita Drive. The next-lowest offer among six bidders was $111,050 from Argo Construction of Cordova; the highest bid was $300,060, from Dixieland Contractors of Millington.
Enscor also is handling a sewer line project off McIngvale Road and a $46,700 sewer relocation project at U. S. 51 and License Drive, where the Mississippi Department of Transportation is doing intersection improve- at 7.3 percent and was 0.6 percentage point lower than in October 2012. ments.
Aldermen lauded Enscor’s bargain prices and asked how the firm can bid so low.
“They need work,” said city engineer Joe Frank Lauderdale, noting continuing lean times for the construction industry.
In Planning Commission matters presented by city planning director Jared Darby, aldermen approved a zoning amendment recommendation to shift a 5.7-acre site at 467 McCracken, occupied by Hamilton Storage, from M-1 (light industrial), to C-1 ( highway commer- cial). The rezoning request was made by owner Stanley Trezevant.