Starkville School District Superintendent Lewis Holloway knows his organization will need additional administrative space once it merges with Oktibbeha County School District next year, but he said the district is now unlikely to rent or lease offices in Starkville’s future City Hall.
Starkville representatives initially discussed leasing a portion of the new building to the school system contingent on the city’s $2.55 million purchase of Cadence Bank’s Jackson Street branch. Officials hoped to retrofit Cadence for police usage and move Starkville Municipal Court into the building, thereby freeing up space within City Hall for potential leases.
But aldermen took no action on a proposed SSD agreement last month, and Holloway said Monday the matter is “off the table from our point of view.”
Before approaching aldermen, Holloway told county supervisors that he hoped the district could lease about 14 offices for about $2,500 per month. SSD’s superintendent was also requesting space in the county education building at that same time, but supervisors have not committed any new offices for the school system.
“We felt like we really put together a good-faith effort,” Holloway said of the proposal to the city. “We stand behind the money and the offer, but that didn’t work out.”
It is not known why aldermen turned down the SSD deal. Both Mayor Parker Wiseman and Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker said they were open to future discussions, but talks are not presently occurring.
The city and SSD were at odds earlier this year after Wiseman returned $500,000 in over-collected school taxes, which then led to an attempt by Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins to recall the money and have it deposited in Starkville’s general fund.
Although a 1986 general obligation bond for school district improvements was retired in 2006, approximately $474,081 was discovered in a city account this spring, Due to changing statutes and a switch between tax-collecting and -paying authorities, it is believed the over-collection occurred because the original millage rate to pay off the principal and interest was not adjusted after property value reassessments. Compounding interest helped balloon the total.
Perkins wanted to use the money for city expenditures, but state law would have required a tax decrease for all residents who helped fund the general obligation bonds. The sticking point: SSD serves all of Starkville and an area outside the city limits, meaning city residents could have their taxes lowered, but officials could not provide the same relief for those who live outside Starkville’s incorporated limits.
The board eventually deadlocked over what to do with the money, and Wiseman cast the tie-breaking vote that allowed the funds to go back to the school system. A letter sent by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office to Perkins in July said it would not provide further clarity on the matter, thereby signaling the end of the debate.
Holloway Monday said SSD will turn its attention to renovating the district’s current administrative home, the Greensboro Center, for which the 1986 general obligation bonds’ funding was pledged.
A March study performed by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Structural Design Group states inspectors found “advanced decay” associated with roof trusses above the facility’s auditorium; green growth, mud and other evidence of water infiltration; and deterioration associated with the building’s façade and masonry.
Holloway said SSD is not planning on adding additional office space within the Greensboro Center.
By law, Oktibbeha County supervisors must provide space and support for the county school district and the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District once the two systems merger July 1, 2015.
Supervisors have indicated they would like to use the county education building, which was constructed for its current use with Hurricane Katrina relief funding, to help relieve other governmental agencies’ space issues – county administration and emergency management, specifically – but have not settled upon how to follow the Legislature’s mandate for supporting the district in the future.
The SSD Board of Trustees will meet 6 p.m. tonight at the Greensboro Center and is expected to discuss the district’s Fiscal Year 2013-2014 audit.
A copy of the audit was not available at press time.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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