Supervisors take next steps toward building of courthouse annex in Poplarville
Poplarville-- The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors took another step toward the building of a two-story annex building in Poplarville during Monday’s board meeting. Troy Johnston, of Butler Snow law firm, outlined the steps the board needs to take to move forward with advertising to make the public aware of their intent to proceed with a bond issuance.
Johnston (pictured) told the board, that after discussing the project, Butler Snow recommends setting the top amount of the bond issue not to exceed $12 million. The county estimates the project to take $9.5 million. Johnston said the top amount depends on how the county would decide to proceed on capitalized interest since the county has some debt that will be rolling off in the next few years. Johnston explained that does not mean the county would issue that amount, but it simply part of the procedure to structure the financing.
He presented a resolution that needed to be put in place that would let the public know that the county intends to issue general obligation bonds, backed by the county, to build the proposed building. Johnston said the announcement would be published four times in the local newspaper and the public would have a chance to petition, and must file their petition by May 7, 2018. Johnston said the resolution considers going through the Mississippi Development Bank, which makes it easier to structure the bond payments.
The Mississippi Development Bank is a statewide issuer of revenue bonds with proceeds going to local governmental entities. Local governmental units must request that bonds be issued through the Mississippi Development Bank on their behalf and are responsible for the retirement of revenue bond debt through annual payments to the Mississippi Development Bank.
The board made a motion and voted unanimously to move forward and sign the engagement resolution with Butler Snow and to sign the resolution to move forward with the general obligation bond notice and issuance.
