Davis fighting against Auditor Pickering’s claimed recovery amount.

Southaven Mayor Greg Davis is asking a Hinds County judge to throw out part of the $70,000 that the state auditor alleges he owes for unsubstantiated personal expenses.

The Commercial Appeal reports that Davis is scheduled to be in chancery court in Jackson on Wednesday.

Davis argues his reimbursements followed state law. He says contends that he had the authority to approve his city travel. He says according city policy and state regulations he was not required to turn in any receipts to be reimbursed for his business-related expenses.

State Auditor Stacey Pickering is attempting to recover more than $70,000, including penalties and interest. Pickering says Davis should not have been reimbursed for some trips, shopping and marriage counseling that he charged to the city.

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Commission sends 3 of 17 names to Governor to lead DMR.

The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources voted Tuesday on the three names it would give the governor to choose from for the Department of Marine Resources’ top job.

The commission narrowed it to three following a closed-session discussion Tuesday during the CMR meeting. The commission likely won’t officially release the names due to confidentiality agreements it has with the applicants, who may have other jobs.

“The only name we intend to have anyone hear is the one that the governor selects,” (Chairman Vernon) Asper said.

Under state law, the commission must provide three names to Gov. Phil Bryant, who will select one. The state Senate must confirm Bryant’s choice.

The job has been vacant since DMR Executive Director Bill Walker was fired in January from his $124,000-a-year post amid ongoing state and federal investigations of spending during his tenure. Walker has denied any wrongdoing.

After the March 12 deadline to apply, commissioners said 17 people had sought the job, which pays between $83,427 and $108,455.

State government insiders have tossed around names since Walker’s firing.

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House may offer way for school districts to bypass voters and take on more debt

House Education Committee Chairman John Moore, R-Brandon, who’s sponsoring the bill says districts would like a chance to borrow again.

“In the areas where there’s need for more school buildings, more classroom space, it probably would be an advantage,” Moore said.

His bill would increase the amount of money a district could pledge to $195 per student per year. That may not sound like much. But n a 2,300-student district — the typical size in Mississippi — it would generate nearly $450,000 a year. That would be enough to borrow more than $6 million at 4 percent nterest over 20 years.

That much money is probably not enough to build a new elementary school or a high school. But it’s enough for a new classroom wing or to renovate a school, said Michae Waldrop, executive director of the Mississippi School Boards Association.

http://mobile.gulflive.com/advgulf/pm_29210/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=oPFiIl7P&rwthr=0

Minor missed his meds again: Can Republicans govern now that they have majority?

For several years, Republicans have been the dogs who chased the fire truck (in this case control of the Legislature). Now that they’ve caught it, will they know what to do with it?

Many GOPers who will hold a legislative majority in January have neither legislative experience nor a practical concept of governance. That raises the question: Can they govern or will they advance an agenda to impose their ideology on state law books rather than deal with state’s many gut problems, chief among them poverty, health care and education?

Dozens of bills Republicans have sponsored come out of the extreme edge of viability, obviously with Tea Party origins (fortunately none passed). There’s never been a GOP agenda aimed at improving the quality of life in Mississippi.

Mostly they deal with what we can’t do.

This “can’t do” doctrine strikes me as a throwback to prohibition days when rabid “drys” outlawed strong drink to save us from the Demon rum. We all remember what a travesty that became.

Though Republican revolutionists wouldn’t admit it, they have no one in their ranks to measure up to a number of Democratic veterans who were swept out of office -Democrats who wrote laws that produced some of the state’s giant programs. Were it not for Natchez’ Bob Dearing, we wouldn’t have had a casino gaming industry which since 1992 has put millions of dollars into state coffers.

Or if it had not been for battling Billy McCoy (sometime fisticuffs to make his point) leading the fight in 1986 to install and fund a long-sought four-lane corridor program of state highways, Mississippi very likely wouldn’t have the excellent system that now crisscrosses the state bringing commerce and industrial potential to many small towns.

Not gone, but certainly now with a target on his back, is Democratic Rep. Cecil Brown of Jackson, acknowledged as the Legislature’s best fiscal authority, who is looked upon as the savior of public education in these dire economic times. Will the Repubs utilize his invaluable talents or cast him on the ash-heap?

via Can Republicans govern now that they have majority? | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com.

Barbour urges frugality for state

New Mississippi legislators who rode into office on the promise of restrained government spending will get a chance to prove it based on the latest state revenue collections.

November revenue collections fell $4.9 million short of projections as the state nears the halfway point of its 2012 fiscal year that ends June 30.

The numbers come after a surprisingly good October, in which total revenues were 5 percent, or $20.2 million, more than anticipated.

So far this year, revenue collections are about 2.5 percent above estimates.

The state economist warned budget-writing legislators in September to expect extremely slow economic growth in the coming year — 1.7 percent on top of just 0.7 percent for calendar year 2011.

Gaming revenues sustained the largest drop in revenue categories, 26.7 percent in November and 8.6 percent so far this fiscal year.

“Our national economy continues to be sluggish. The state’s economy is no different,” Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday in a statement.

Barbour noted that individual income tax receipts dropped 7.2 percent below projections, “which is of particular concern.”

“We need to be prudent in spending state revenues and reserves until economic conditions improve, especially when we will have $200 million less in federal funds next year,” he said.

Before leaving the Capitol last spring, legislators adopted a $5.5 billion spending plan for 2012, about a 2.7 percent increase over the 2011 state budget.

This time around, the state must deal with $200 million less in federal money.

via Barbour urges frugality for state » The Commercial Appeal.

Gunn to Neshoba County: Scott Bounds will be leader in House

Rep. Philip Gunn of Clinton told Rotarians that it is “great news” for Neshoba County that Republicans now have the majority leadership in the House for the first time in 140 years.

Gunn was recently selected by Republican House members as the preferred candidate for the speaker’s post.

Rep. Scott Bounds, R-Philadelphia, will have an active role in the leadership, Gunn said.

“Your representative has been sitting on the sidelines with me for the last eight years,” Gunn said. “We have been banished to the back row. We have been prevented from having any sort of leadership role, any sort of involvement in the process other than whatever we are able to do on the House floor.”

That will no longer be the case in the Republican-led House, Gunn said of Bounds, who represents District 45.

“Your representative, Mr. Scott Bounds, is getting off the sidelines and he’s getting in the game,” Gunn said. “I am going to make sure that he now has an active role in the leadership in pushing Mississippi forward and going forward. So for you that is great news. Your representative is now going to be an active player in the Mississippi House of Representatives. I hope that pleases you.”

For the past eight years, Gunn said the House had seen a tremendous division and a lack of inclusiveness.

One side has been completely excluded from positions on the budget committee, chairmanships and any involvement on the redistricting committees, Gunn said.

“That has created a dysfunctional House,” he said.

Gunn said there needed to be a forum for which everyone has a voice whether they are conservatives or liberals, men or women, black or white.

“Their voices need to be heard,” he said.

Gunn told Rotarians that he was excited about the next four years and the talented legislators he would be working alongside.

He said Mississippi has been last in so many categories for so many years.

Changes are needed, he said, to get the state moving up the ladder in education, jobs and health.

via Gunn: Bounds will be leader in House – The Neshoba Democrat – Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Let the dollar-mining begin Part 2–Mississippi chief justice: State’s judges to seek higher salaries in 2012 | The Republic

Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. used a Gulf Coast forum to press the issue of higher salaries for judges.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/v3YgXA) that Waller and Justices Randy Pierce and Michael Randolph told members of the Gulf Coast Business Council that a judicial pay bill will be presented to the 2012 Legislature.

Randolph says the last time Supreme Court justices got a pay raise gasoline was $1.89 a gallon. That was 2003.

The Sun Herald reports that Waller and Justices Randy Pierce and Michael Randolph told members of the Gulf Coast Business Council that a judicial pay bill will be presented to the 2012 Legislature.

Waller says the pay package will propose a four-year, step pay increase for appellate judges and those in the circuit, chancery and county courts. It also will feature higher civil filing and appellate court fees to fund the increases.

via Mississippi chief justice: State’s judges to seek higher salaries in 2012 | The Republic.

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Crawford: Will RINO hunts come to Miss.?

When the victory laps slow down and folks take off their rose-colored glasses, they’re going to see a number of RINOs making up the Republican majorities in both the Mississippi House and Senate.

How many?

We’ll be able to tell pretty soon. State budget realities are bleak, meaning legislators must find more revenue or cut spending. Not-RINO, real Republicans would choose spending cuts and try to deliver on promises for smaller government.

They’ve got a problem though. Many boxed themselves in with other promises during recent campaigns.

The biggest single budget item in state government is education. Most candidates, Republicans and Democrats alike, pledged to support education. And education, from K-12 schools to community colleges to universities, is clamoring for more spending. So cuts, like freezing teachers’ STEP increases for a year or consolidating K-12, community college, and university back-room administrative services, seem off the table.

The biggest overall costs in state government come from salaries and benefits, whether paid directly by the state or by universities, colleges, or schools using state money. Again, Republicans and Democrats alike pledged not to touch retirement benefits for existing employees and retirees. This was promised in the face of escalating retirement benefit costs being shifted to taxpayers. Taxpayer-covered contributions have risen from 9.75 percent to 12.93 percent of employees’ salaries and are projected to surpass 14 percent next year. And that’s the conservative projection.

via Will RINO hunts come to Miss.? | Hattiesburg American | hattiesburgamerican.com.

Mississippi Department of Education Accountability Status Ratings Map

WHAT THIS MAP SHOWS:
This maps shows the new MS Dept. of Education Accountability Status ratings for each school district that were released Sept.16,2011.

View this document on Scribd

School bus safety push at state capitol – WLBT 3 – Jackson, MS:

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JACKSON, MS (WLBT) -

It wasn’t your typical school bus stop Wednesday morning as children went from the bus steps to the steps of the state capitol, joining state leaders and bus safety advocates.

“It is up to us, incumbent upon all of us to have that shared responsibility for these children,” said Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant.

In preparation of National School Bus Safety Week, the forces behind a state law, known as Nathan’s Law, are hoping to send a message across the state.

“It seems as if a tragedy often has to occur before we become aware of the dangers,” said Bryant.

Tragedy is what spurred the law, named after five year old Nathan Key who died when he was ran over after stepping off of his school bus in front of his home in Jones County back in December of 2009.

Since his death, his parents, Andy and Lori, set out to change state law, and did, but they’re not stopping there.

“As long as there are still children getting injured getting on and off school buses, there’s work to be done,” said Andy Key.

They both now sit on the state’s school bus safety task force chaired by Lamar County Schools Superintendent Ben Burnett.

“Most people aren’t aware that there’s a new tougher law,” said Burnett.

The law created stiffer penalties for anyone caught passing a stopped school bus and even created the task force which will make additional safety proposals to be presented to the legislature in January.

via School bus safety push at state capitol – WLBT 3 – Jackson, MS:.

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