Clarke County took a second hit in three months in State Aid money. The first budget cut came in January in the amount of $17,131 and the second this month for additional $17,114.
What does this mean for our county? Less funding for infrastructure to repair roads and bridges in Clarke and around the state of Mississippi.
Counties are in need of more federal and state funding but with the continuous budget cuts on a federal and state level, that burden is quickly trickling down to county government, which in turn places the burden on local leaders.
Counties own over 46% of public roads and 38% of the national bridge inventory, according to NACO (National Association of Counties). Federal dollars are supposed to fund 22% of these infrastructure needs but unfortunately counties are only receiving 9%. The Mississippi House voted last week to fund the needed repairs to roads and bridges but now we need the Senate to do the same.
We need to be contacting our local legislators in support of this. According to the Mississippi Economic Council, over 6,200 Mississippians have already signed forms asking legislators to make roads and bridges a priority. The total number of bridges in Mississippi is over 200 in 63 counties following federal inspections.
Locally in Clarke County, there are several bridges that are in need of repair, one which has been on the books to repair since 2003 is the bridge on Highway 511 and another on County Road 690.
County Engineer John Lewis and the board discussed Monday that both of those bridges are going to be repaired but financially it will be tight but they are still going to make it happen.
The bottom line is, counties need state aid funding to continue with infrastructure needs around the state but with the continuous budget cuts, many counties are going to be in the red with no money to make needed repairs.
The downside to this is when federal and state funding starts getting slashed, rarely do the big suits in Jackson and Washington hear the complaints. It’s the local leaders who get the blame when their hands were tied from the beginning.
