Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
March 23
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, on the passage of bonds for economic development:
Cooper Tire’s sprawling industrial complex on South Green Street and Eason Boulevard in Tupelo houses a dynamo in Northeast Mississippi’s economy, and the Legislature is considering $20 million in bonds that could help ensure Cooper’s modernization, longevity, competitiveness and strong employment for decades.
The bonds would be used, along with about $18 million in tax incentives from Lee County and $140 million invested by the company, to equip the 1,600-employee plant with state-of-the- art manufacturing equipment that will help productivity soar and push Cooper toward an even stronger international presence in tire making.
The bonds are included in House-passed legislation, but the deal is not done and the issue is complex.
Cooper, in sum, guarantees a minimum workforce of 1,300 for 10 years if the incentives package and its own investment are made, a reasonable figure given the periodic fluctuations in manufacturing employment caused by economic condition. Cooper’s last partnership with incentives exceeded expectations, leading to the 1,600 employees at the plant now. There’s no reason to think it can’t happen again.
A 10-year commitment would mean a minimum payroll of $625 million for the region; Cooper’s pay is among the best in Mississippi. Some employees count multiple family generations as Cooper workers.
It is significant that Cooper in Tupelo is competing against its parent company’s plants in other countries in seeking the new equipment and striking technological advances.
We believe the Legislature’s confidence in Cooper and the opportunity posed will be multiplied many times if the upgrade goals are fully met.
We urge passage of the bonds for economic development.
Online:
https://www.djournal.com
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March 22
The Sun Herald, Gulfport, on revenue predictions and borrowing:
State Treasurer Lynn Fitch says her recently released “Debt Affordability Study” is “a critical tool” to help policymakers assess Mississippi’s debt. It could also be called a warning.
According to Fitch, Mississippi could borrow nearly $2 billion over the next five years and state revenue might increase enough to cover the cost.
But just because the state could borrow so much money does not mean it should. And though we hope her revenue predictions are correct, they are forecasts, not certainties.
Indeed, the study includes the fact that Fitch Rating Services (no relation to the treasurer) has revised its outlook for Mississippi from stable to negative. “Of particular concern,” according to the debt study, “are (Mississippi’s) unfunded pension liabilities being among the highest of the states and the continued reliance on one-time revenue sources to fund ongoing operations.”
The report also uses such cautionary terms as “expected,” ’’estimates,” ’’projected,” ’’risks” and “uncertainties” when discussing state finances.
What is certain is bonded indebtedness soared from more than $2.2 billion in 2000 to more than $4.1 billion in 2012.
It has been declining since then, due in large measure to Fitch’s predecessor as state treasurer, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. As the presiding officer of the state Senate, Reeves has championed lowering, rather than raising, the state’s bonded indebtedness.
We support Reeves in those efforts.
Unlike the federal government, state government must operate under a balanced budget. So the state does not have the equivalent of the federal “debt ceiling.”
But the state can go into debt by issuing bonds, and there is a limit to bonded indebtedness.
The Mississippi Constitution of 1890 limits such debt to “one-and-one-half times the sum of all the revenue collected by it for all purposes during any one of the preceding four fiscal years, whichever year might be higher.”
The $4 billion Mississippians already owe bondholders costs taxpayers some $375 million each year. Tripling that amount to $12 billion would, of course, cost taxpayers considerably more.
The consequences, according to Reeves’ spokeswoman Laura Hipp, should be obvious: “Every dollar Mississippi spends to pay off debt is a dollar that cannot fund education or health care or public safety. Paying debt service is the second highest cost in the budget, and Lt. Gov. Reeves is committed to bringing that number down. . The days of just ’bonding’ every project every state agency wants are over.”
As well they should be.
Online:
https://www.sunherald.com
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March 21
Greenwood Commonwealth, Greenwood, on the criminal justice bill:
One of the Mississippi 2014 legislative session’s most notable achievements could be the criminal justice reform bill lawmakers enacted.
After almost two decades of trying the “lock ’em up and throw away the key” approach to corrections, almost everyone in state government - legislators, the governor, the Department of Corrections and most judges and prosecutors - has realized that’s not the way to go.
Mississippi’s prison population exploded as a result of an overly harsh truth-in-sentencing law adopted in the mid-1990s, as did its corrections budget. Although lawmakers have been backing away from that law piecemeal over the past decade or so, the state still has had the second highest incarceration rate in the nation, trailing only neighboring Louisiana.
This year’s legislation takes a more sweeping approach that’s not soft on crime, but smart on it.
It enacts true sensible sentencing minimums, based on the severity of the crime, so judges won’t have to guess how long a convicted offender might actually serve when given a sentence. It expands the use of alternatives to incarceration, such as house arrest and drug courts, that are not only a lot less expensive but also more likely to reform the offender. It raises the threshold on property crimes from $500 to $1,000 before they qualify as a felony and thus increase the likelihood of prison time.
That latter change caused some consternation from a few folks in law enforcement, especially in the suburbs of Jackson, who complained that it will reduce the number of people behind bars. Duh. That’s precisely the point of these reforms - to reserve the expensive real estate of a prison cell for those from whom society needs to be protected, such as violent offenders and the incorrigible.
The $500 threshold was outdated, making no allowance for inflation that has occurred since that threshold was set.
The bipartisan support for this package of changes demonstrates that Mississippi has overwhelmingly accepted that not every crime merits prison time. It’s been a while getting there, but thankfully the state has.
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