Jackson Free Press

Earlier this week, Gov. Barbour announced a special session to allot corporate welfare to a North Mississippi project. After criticism that his call was ignoring dire needs on the Coast, he expanding the call to include issues vital to the Gulf Coast, which is struggling a full year after Katrina. Following is a verbatim statement from the governor:

(JACKSON, Mississippi) – Governor Haley Barbour's official call for a special session of the Mississippi Legislature seeks state incentives for a huge economic development project in DeSoto County as well as eliminating barriers for construction of new housing and financial assistance for cash-strapped local governments on the Mississippi Coast.

In releasing the official call, or agenda, for the special session to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, Governor Barbour said he will also ask lawmakers approve a project to expand Magee General Hospital. A bill that would have allowed the City of Magee to issue bonds to finance a $25 million hospital expansion was among several local and private bills that failed in the final days of the 2006 regular session.

Governor Barbour said if the House and Senate leadership agree on other local and private issues he will likely add those issues to the call.

"Working with the leadership of the House and Senate, I believe we have developed a plan to deal with issues that require immediate action," Governor Barbour said. "I am hopeful this special session will be short and productive."

Here is a summary of other issues in the call:

• Riverbend Crossing: Certain elements of the proposed Riverbend Crossing project in DeSoto County, which includes a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company (MGM) entertainment district, require legislative action before they can go forward. Riverbend is a 4,500-acre multi-phase master planned community that will consist of a blend of commercial, recreational, resort, tourism and residential development.

Developers have stated their intention to invest $2.7 billion over 15 years. In the first phase, in return for state support, developers have committed a minimum capital investment of $475 million and creation of a minimum of 3,500 new, full-time jobs.

The Legislature is being asked to approve $23 million for public infrastructure – roads, water and sewer – to serve the project and a tourism sales tax rebate that is limited to 30 percent of capital expenditures for each eligible project investment for 10 years. This sales tax rebate will equal 80 percent of the sales tax collected from each eligible project under a total rebate ceiling of $150 million for the Riverbend project.

• Removing barriers to housing on the Coast: The number one priority and challenge in Mississippi caused by Katrina is housing. More than 240,000 units of housing were damaged by Katrina statewide, representing 23 percent of the state's occupied housing units. Nearly 80,000 units of housing suffered major or severe damage, or were destroyed, approximately 53,000 of which were in the three coastal counties.

Due to labor supply constraints, the State must encourage alternatives to conventional, site-built, "stick-built" homes. One such alternative is modular housing.

"Modular homes" are often confused with "manufactured housing" (also referred to as mobile homes) since they are both "manufactured" in a plant. However, there are substantial differences between the two. Mobile homes are built to the HUD code, which is a national code governing the manufactured housing industry. Modular housing is typically built to comply with the local building codes governing conventional construction, e.g. the International Residential Code. Therefore, the construction of modular housing is virtually the same as a conventionally built home and qualifies for conventional mortgage financing.

Modular housing under Mississippi law is taxed at 7 percent while manufactured housing is taxed at 3 percent. Governor Barbour is asking the Legislature to reduce the tax on modular housing to the same level as manufactured housing in order to encourage more production of housing units to better serve the housing needs of residents victimized by Katrina.

• Financial help to Coast cities and counties: The special session call asks the Legislature to approve a mechanism for awarding direct grants of up to $3 million to coastal city and county governments that have lost more than 25 percent of their revenues due to Hurricane Katrina. No general fund appropriation is required under this plan.

The complete text and other details in Governor Barbour's call for this special session may be found at http://www.governorbarbour.com.

Previous Commentsshow

He'll reduce taxes? That's a first.

Ironghost

Aug 22 2006

What is the real deal in this country that it takes so long to develop and implement strategies to rebuild the costal areas of MS and New Orleans? We are excellent when it comes to sending aide and physical help to other countries. I am amazed by the number of buildings and repair that have been done in Iraq. Now a special session is called. This will cost tax payers more money to address issues that should have and could have been addressed in the last session of the legislature.

justjess

Aug 23 2006

I hope that legislators go in there and pass everything they can for housing on the coast and then demand to see incentives for local business in De Soto County. We should be empowering people and not setting up a sharecropping situation. There is no reason to encourage corporations to come into our cities and set up enterprises that are only joined to Mississippi by locale. Can we not offer tax rebates to the locally owned businesses to promote growth in their sector? Can we not grant loans for entertainment projects that emphasize our local culture rather than a resort that could be anywhere? When we will we capitalize on that which makes us uniquely Mississippi? Why did we hire a firm from out of town to develop the Farrish Street Entertainment District? I have meet business owners who tried to get realestate over there and the City would not sell...this was prior o the announcement of agreements with carpetbaggers. They would already be there taking care of their space... and consider living on a minimum wage salary...$880/month minus taxes....not a very realistic "livable" quanitity for even a single person. Especially if we consider that with 3,500 jobs many will be driving quite a distance to get there ($$$). I know there will be higher paid jobs, but they should be predicated on a scale that starts out the lowest member of the organization at a livable wage. We cannot allow others to force us to stand on each others backs forever. That is not the only way. Just as we should not allow importation of goods from countries who do not meet our environmental standards, worker conditions, etc. we should not allow companies in our communities who cannot act like true neighbors. What is going on that we refuse to invest in ourselves?

daniel johnson

Aug 23 2006

There are very few jobs in that area or New Orleans that are at minimum wage. You'd have to try really hard to find a job that only paid minimum wage right now.

Kingfish

Aug 23 2006

Its also a smart move to cut the sales tax on modular housing down to 3 percent. We need homes down there NOW and they can be built in less than 8 weeks. New Orleans just had an expo on them. On another board filled with La. posters they were saying they wished that Blanco and the rest of their state gov. was taking the initiative like this to jump start the housing in affected areas. Any revenue lost by the sales tax cut will be made up in increased volume.

Kingfish

Aug 23 2006

I know there are very few jobs in New Orleans or the Coast that are minimum wage. I'm referring to NorthEast MS where the Metro-Goldmayer project will occur.

daniel johnson

Aug 25 2006

What is wrong with encouraging a five star hotel and its attendant environs? I'm still puzzled over why so many would consider this a bad thing for the state. Build a good resort and tourists will come. The economy will grow around this development.

tombarnes

Aug 25 2006