A Lauderdale County supervisors’ meeting last week caused some disgruntlement in Marion after Supervisor J.J. Anders made a motion — which failed without a second — to stop investing county funds in maintaining Marion’s roads and bridges at the end of the fiscal year.

 

Anders reasoned Marion has the ability to levy taxes on its own residents and can raise the money needed to maintain its infrastructure without the county’s help. With Lauderdale County heading into budget season with belt tightening already in sight, he said it is unfair to county taxpayers to use their funds in Marion while county infrastructure needs go unaddressed.

 

Yes, and no.

 

It is unrealistic to expect Marion, with a population of less than 2,000, to levy taxes to the point where it can afford large infrastructure projects on its own. The Dale Drive bridge project, completed in 2023, cost $1.1 million alone, roughly a third of the town’s annual budget.

 

Lauderdale County itself depends heavily on state pots of money, State Aid, Local System Bridge Project and Emergency Road and Bridge Repair program funds, to pay the lion’s share for large infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, Mississippi receives more than $13 billion annually in federal funding which accounts for almost 40% of the total budget, and at the national level the current budget deficit for the 2025 fiscal year is more than $1.3 trillion.

 

If Marion does manage to become entirely self-sufficient, it will be the only one.

 

County assistance will continue to be needed in Marion, and with the town’s location along a heavily trafficked corridor for both passenger and commercial traffic, it wouldn’t be in the county’s best interest to fully divest itself from keeping the roads and bridges passable. If Marion needs to pay for a few potholes to be patched, that’s a different story.

 

Anders’ motion, however, needs to be viewed in the proper context. Lauderdale County is near the top of the list of Mississippi counties as far as how much infrastructure it has to maintain. Additionally, with the county seeing development earlier than other areas of the state, its infrastructure is also older. There is no shortage of infrastructure work needing to be done, but supervisors first must find a way to pay for it.

 

Adding fuel to the fire are higher costs driven by pandemic era inflation and supply chain disruptions, as well as the looming impact of recently implemented tariffs on materials needed by the county or its suppliers.

 

As a taxpayer funded entity, no county spending should be off the table or free from scrutiny. Every contract, project and purchase can, and should, be thoroughly examined, not necessarily for wrongdoing but to see if it is truly necessary.

 

Many expenses, such as the cost of asphalt, don’t have much flexibility, and some, like reverse auction requirements or PERS contributions, are mandates passed at the state and federal level. Other costs, however, can be cut or reduced, and finding them begins with asking tough questions.

 

Lauderdale County’s roads and bridges won’t get better with time, and waiting a few years is likely to increase costs, not reduce them. As our county supervisors start to develop a budget for the next fiscal year, we encourage them to look closely at how they allocate our tax dollars, what projects take priority and if money will better serve county residents if allocated somewhere else.