Picayune school board approves ad valorem tax request
The Picayune School Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting on Tuesday and approved the district’s preliminary request for ad valorem tax to the city of Picayune.
District Finance Director Lisa Persick told the board that the school district will ask for basically the same amount of ad valorem tax from the city for the coming year as last year which is at the maximum allowed of 55 mills.
Each year, the district is required to submit to the levying authority for the school district a certified copy of an order adopted by the school board requesting an ad valorem tax effort in dollars for the support of the school district.
Board member David Mooneyhan (seated) and Finance Director Lisa Persick
Persick said that the actual amount of dollars will be determined once Picayune City Clerk Amber Hinton receives the request. She said that if Hinton, feels the requested amount is too much, she will let the district know. Persick said the district has until August 1, 2019, to finalize the request per feedback from Hinton and the city. Ad valorem tax revenue for the district averages approximately $9 million per year according to prior year funding reports filed with the state of Mississippi.
During review of the claims docket, Board President Frank Ford once again about the overage charges for copier use. Ford and previous board member Frank Feeley, have ask the district to look into a possible consolidation in the past, but no action has been taken on this according to Persick. She told Ford that they did not move forward with the company representative they met with pertaining to this request.
Currently, each school has its own copier contract and Ford wants to see if a better deal (cost savings) can be put in place for the school district by getting the principals at the schools to come together. In asking for action on this, Ford told Persick, “I think that’s a great idea. There is strength in numbers and I’d like to see you all do something on this.”
We will have more news from the school board meeting tomorrow.
