Robin Hood Goes Into Effect
In 2007, Senate Bill 2403 was enacted into law by the Mississippi state legislature authorizing for ad valorem tax revenues from the Gulf LNG Plant under construction in Bayou Cassotte and any additions or improvements to the existing Chevron Refinery to be allocated among the four school districts in Jackson County. The problem with this is that these locations lie exclusively within the boundaries of the Pascagoula School District as recognized by the state of Mississippi.
As you might imagine, I have been keeping a close eye on this matter. All taxpayers in the Pascagoula School District will be adversely impacted by this new law. It is imperative that we continue the fight to protect our tax dollars for the future of education in Pascagoula Schools, rather legally or politically.
Numbers are starting to come in as to the financial impact this Robin Hood law will have on the Pascagoula School District. The proponents of this law have said that Pascagoula Schools will retain their current area of assessment and the law only affects the improvements and additions at Chevron and the development at LNG. I and others contend that is not the case. As Chevron upgrades and improves the current area, these values will be added into the "improved" pot and taken from the Pascagoula Schools current assessment area, essentially through depreciation and reallocation. Here are the numbers:
2008 2009 2010 (projected)
Current Area 1 $233 million $269 million $234 million
Current Area 2 $63 million $52 million $45 million
Improved Area $66 million
What you see here is a jump in value due to improvements, etc. between 2008 and 2009 in Current Area 1. Between 2009 and projected 2010, that same area is reduced by $35 million, which I'm told is being spoke of as "economic obsolescence." According to Wikipedia, "obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service or practice is no longer wanted even though it may still be in good working order. Obsolescence frequently occurs because a replacement has become available that is superior in one or more aspects." (Just thought I'd throw that in there for you.) Current Area 2 shows a continual decline across the board.
The Improved Area represents approximately $13 million from LNG and $53 million from Chevron improvements. This Improved Area will be split by the new law. If you will notice, the decrease of value in Current Areas 1 and 2 between 2009 and 2010 totals approximately $42 million, mighty close to the $53 millions in the Improved Area for Chevron.
So what does this mean in terms of taxation and funding for the Pascagoula School District? The loss of assessed value in Current Areas 1 and 2 represents a loss of approximately $1.6 million to the Pascagoula School District. The Improved Area represents an approximate tax value of $3.6 million which will now be split among the four county school districts, of which Pascagoula will receive about $928,000. Essentially, due to the Robin Hood law, the Pascagoula School District is losing a total of $4.3 million in funding projected for 2010.
We, the Pascagoula citizens, can thank some overzealous local politicians for such a Robin Hood law cherry picking one area in one school district. As an elected official myself, while I understand the zeal to represent your constituency and make the voters in your area proud, I cannot for the life of me bring myself to the place where I could justify robbing another entity's tax base to make up for the deficiencies in my own.
All of our county school districts should be supported by their own tax base. If they cannot support themselves, perhaps they should consider consolidation. Otherwise, Pandora's Box can be opened and everyone loses. This is why I asked my colleagues on the Pascagoula City Council to adopt a resolution calling for a partitioning of ad valorem tax revenues from any and all new industries to be located in Jackson County; if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander as the saying goes. Thankfully, the City of Gautier will be taking up the resolution as well at its upcoming City Council meeting. If this law is indeed constitutional and we now must operate under its direction, then Pascagoula Schools should be allowed to benefit from similar considerations as propagated in this Robin Hood law.
As we have seen in Washington D.C. and now locally through this new law, Robin Hood may be a classic children's story but it makes for terrible public policy.
Frank Corder
Pascagoula City Councilman
