Mississippi Today

A look at where state’s record surplus originated and how it can be spent

Published

2 years ago

December 29, 2022

A look at where state’s record surplus originated and how it can be spent

by Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today
December 29, 2022

The Mississippi Legislature will begin the 2023 session on Jan. 3 with a mind-boggling $3.9-billion surplus, according to information compiled by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee.

To put the surplus in perspective, it is little more than half as large as the overall state-support budget of $7.9 billion for the current fiscal year. State support refers to the funds derived primarily from general taxation, such as the sales tax on retail items and the income tax. The state also has other special fund agencies, which receive taxes or fees designated solely to run their agency, such as the fee barbers pay for their regulatory board or the motor fuel tax to operate the Transportation Department.

The state has an overall budget, including all state and federal funds appropriated by the Legislature, of $26 billion for the current fiscal year with 45% of the total funds being provided by the federal government.

By any metric, the surplus the state has is unprecedented.

These funds fall into different categories with different guidelines of how they can be appropriated by the 2023 Legislature. But it should be stressed that in most cases the Legislature can vote to change those guidelines and it is almost a certainty the Legislature will not appropriate all the surplus funds this session.

Here are the categories of the surplus and, in general, how they can be spent:

Capital expense fund: $1.6 billion. This is the accumulation of unspent revenue from past sessions. These funds are not considered recurring, meaning the Legislature will strive to spend them on non-recurring expenses, such as construction projects or major purchases, such as computer systems. Providing rebates to taxpayers as some have proposed also would be a one-time expense.

General fund: $1 billion. These are tax collections and other revenues collected above the amount projected at this time to be appropriated by the Legislature for the next fiscal year beginning July 1. These funds are considered recurring and can be used for any purpose.

Working Cash Stabilization Fund or rainy day funds: $579.4 million. These are funds that have been placed in reserves for emergencies, such as a downturn in state revenue collections. The rainy day fund currently is at its legal cap of 10% of the total general fund budget.

Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund: $298.1 million. These are federal funds provided to deal with COVID-19 related issues. The federal government places guidelines on how the funds can be appropriated. A portion can be used for recurring expenses, but for the most part must be spent on one-time items, such as water and sewer repair and construction, broadband and for pandemic relief.

The 2% set aside: $150.4 million. By law, the Legislature is only supposed to appropriate 98% of the projected state tax collections. The 2% rule is in place because projecting tax collections is an inexact science. In recent years revenue has significantly exceeded projections, resulting in the large reserves in the capital expense fund. In bad economic times, legislators have changed the law to spend the 2% set aside, but that will not be necessary this session.

Gulf Coast Restoration Fund: $124.2 million. Money from the settlement of lawsuits related to the 2010 BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. These funds are earmarked for Gulf Coast projects.

Education Enhancement Fund: $78.9 million. The state collects a 1% sales tax on retail items designated solely for education projections. Like with the overall tax collections, revenue, from the 1-cent sale tax has exceeded expectations resulting in the surplus in the Education Enhancement Fund

Health Care Expendable Fund: $43.1 million. The state receives a payment annually from the tobacco companies as a result of the 1990s-era lawsuit filed by former Attorney General Mike Moore against the cigarette-manufacturers. Money in the fund is normally designated for health-related issues.

BP Settlement Fund: $12.3 million. Money from the BP oil spill settlements reserved for one-time projects in areas outside the Gulf Coast counties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1906

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4 hours ago

January 22, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-22 07:00:00

Jan. 22, 1906

Willa Beatrice Brown served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. Credit: Wikipedia

Pioneer aviator and civil rights activist Willa Beatrice Brown was born in Glasgow, Kentucky.

While working in Chicago, she learned how to fly and became the first Black female to earn a commercial pilot’s license. A journalist said that when she entered the newsroom, “she made such a stunning appearance that all the typewriters suddenly went silent. … She had a confident bearing and there was an undercurrent of determination in her husky voice as she announced, not asked, that she wanted to see me.”

In 1939, she married her former flight instructor, Cornelius Coffey, and they co-founded the Cornelius Coffey School of Aeronautics, the first Black-owned private flight training academy in the U.S.

She succeeded in convincing the U.S. Army Air Corps to let them train Black pilots. Hundreds of men and women trained under them, including nearly 200 future Tuskegee Airmen.

In 1942, she became the first Black officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol. After World War II ended, she became the first Black woman to run for Congress. Although she lost, she remained politically active and worked in Chicago, teaching business and aeronautics.

After she retired, she served on an advisory board to the Federal Aviation Administration. She died in 1992. A historical marker in her hometown now recognizes her as the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license in the U.S., and Women in Aviation International named her one of the 100 most influential women in aviation and space.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Stories Videos

Mississippi Stories: Michael May of Lazy Acres

Published

20 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – rlake – 2025-01-21 14:51:00

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey takes a trip to Lazy Acres. In 1980, Lazy Acres Christmas tree farm was founded in Chunky, Mississippi by Raburn and Shirley May. Twenty-one years later, Michael and Cathy May purchased Lazy Acres. Today, the farm has grown into a multi seasonal business offering a Bunny Patch at Easter, Pumpkin Patch in the fall, Christmas trees and an spectacular Christmas light show. It’s also a masterclass in family business entrepreneurship and agricultural tourism.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1921

Published

1 day ago

January 21, 2025

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-21 07:00:00

Jan. 21, 1921

George Washington Carver Credit: Wikipedia

George Washington Carver became one of the first Black experts to testify before Congress.

His unlikely road to Washington began after his birth in Missouri, just before the Civil War ended. When he was a week old, he and his mother and his sister were kidnapped by night raiders. The slaveholder hired a man to track them down, but the only one the man could locate was George, and the slaveholder exchanged a race horse for George’s safe return. George and his brother were raised by the slaveholder and his wife.

The couple taught them to read and write. George wound up attending a school for Black children 10 miles away and later tried to attend Highland University in Kansas, only to get turned away because of the color of his skin. Then he attended Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, before becoming the first Black student at what is now Iowa State University, where he received a Master’s of Science degree and became the first Black faculty member.

Booker T. Washington then invited Carver to head the Tuskegee Institute’s Agriculture Department, where he found new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and other crops.

In the past, segregation would have barred Carver’s testimony before Congress, but white peanut farmers, desperate to convince lawmakers about the need for a tariff on peanuts because of cheap Chinese imports, believed Carver could captivate them — and captivate he did, detailing how the nut could be transformed into candy, milk, livestock feed, even ink.

“I have just begun with the peanut,” he told lawmakers.

Impressed, they passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922.

In addition to this work, Carver promoted racial harmony. From 1923 to 1933, he traveled to white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Time magazine referred to him as a “Black Leonardo,” and he died in 1943.

That same year, the George Washington Carver Monument complex, the first national park honoring a Black American, was founded in Joplin, Missouri.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.