ECCC asks supervisors for more money

East Central Community College has asked the Board of Supervisors for more financial support in the upcoming school year.

Dr. Brent Gregory, president of East Central, on Monday, presented the Board of Supervisors with a resolution from the college’s Board of Trustees for fiscal year 2024-25.

The resolution, to be considered during the 2024-25 budget and tax levy discussion in August, proposes tax levies of 2.75 mills for Maintenance & Support and 1.5 mills for Enlargement, Improvement, and Repairs, totaling 4.25 mills.

Currently, the levies stand at 2.25 mills for Support and 1.5 mills for Enlargement & Improvement, totaling 3.75 mills. This request, if levied, would require a 0.5 mill increase in taxes to support ECCC.

“We are the fastest-growing community college in the state of Mississippi,” Gregory said. “We had over a 13 percent enrollment increase this semester and over 10 percent in the fall. There’s a lot of really good things going on at the institution right now, and we still want to be the best two years of people’s lives.”

In other action, supervisors voted to:

• Accept the retirement of deputy sheriff/school resource officer Chris Strickland effective April 15;

• Accept a total loss settlement of a Sheriff’s Department 2018 Ford SUV with Safeway Insurance Company of $12,833;

• Accept the termination of Ethan Smith from the Sheriff’s Department effective April 15;

• Approve $1 an hour pay increases to deputies Cortez Peebles and Trent Rickles effective April 15;

• Approve Neshoba General’s invoice for March inmate feeding in the amount of $51,789;

• Approve the Sheriff’s Department contract with Johnson Controls from May 1, 2024-April 30, 2025, for fire alarm testing and inspection/panel labor only;

• Approve transitioning Phillip Adams from the Sanitation Department to Road Department effective April 15 and approve transitioning David Chipmon to the Sanitation Department from the Road Department effective April 15;

• Approve MaxxSouth permit requests for road bores along county Roads 557, 553, 1523, 610 and 523, and 355;

• Approve three school bus turnarounds at 10130 Road 848, 10140 Road 284, and 13560 Road 602;

• Approve the continuation of the local emergency declaration for April 9 after severe storms;

• Approve a payment application from Burks-Mordecai for $409,044 for work completed on the emergency management storage building project;

• Approve two invoices from PryorMorrow totaling $15,735 for professional services and testing for the storage building project;

• Approve J & J Contractors payment application in the amount of $57,750 for work completed on the Coliseum improvement project;

• Approve PryorMorrow invoice totaling $5,634 for professional services on the Coliseum improvement project;

• Approve a travel request for Justice Court Clerk John Posey to attend the ProntoCourt Training Class with Data Systems Management on April 16 in Madison with a $250 registration fee;

• Accept a settlement of the claim with Rubye Burrage Copeland of $2,443 for wrecked vehicle repair;

• Approve substituting the Confederate Memorial Day holiday from Monday, April 29 to Friday, Aug. 2.