PRC school board approves $3.9 million loan

Residents of the Pearl River County School District will soon be seeing an increase to their homeowner’s taxes. In a unanimous vote during a special meeting on March 6, 2020, the Pearl River County School Board agreed upon a $ 3.9 million loan to cover construction and improvements to the schools within the Pearl River County School District.

School District Business Manager, T.J. Burleson (pictured above), explained that the increase was due to several buildings currently under construction have come in over budget from their original plans.

T.J. Burleson, who is also the District’s Finance Manager, said the costs for the multi-purpose building, the parking lots at the Carriere campus, and the two buildings at the Carriere campus all came in over budget from the original plans. Additionally, the district will be moving the Central Office from their current trailers, acquired just after Hurricane Katrina, to a two-story facility vacated after expansion at PRC Elementary.

Taxpayers should expect an increase of $27.40 on their property taxes per $100,000 in home costs according to Burleson.

He pointed out the original total amount of millage increase was expected to be 11.71 mills for the original bond payment and even with the additional $3.9 million, the district is still in line with those numbers presented to the public.

Burleson said the first year payment was around 10 mills and this years the amount is approximately 9 mills.The millage increase is very close to the millage promised to taxpayers when they passed the original bond issue. Burleson stated that with this latest loan, the school district will have very little leeway if more money is needed, as they are very close to the maximum allowed on their bonds.