Marion residents will not see their municipal tax rate rise heading into the new budget year after the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved the budget for the 2024 fiscal year. The millage rate for the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, is set at 36.36, which is unchanged from the current budget year.

Mayor Larry Gill said the town was able to keep the same millage, in part, because the value of a mill is rising. A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. In Marion, new homes are being built and new businesses are opening, he said, both of which increase the assessed value in the town.

The new budget also includes a few items the town administration and Board of Aldermen believed were needed, Gill said. Included are $1 per hour raises for full-time police officers and $0.50 for part-time officers, as well as raises for other town employees.

Also included is the purchase of a new vehicle for the water department as well as two new vehicles for the police department. On Tuesday, Aldermen authorized the town to pay the dealership, Kirk Auto Group, to install emergency lights, console, cage and other equipment in each of the two new police cars before the town takes possession. The installation, which costs $5,885 per car, is comparable in price to what the town pays locally and will allow the police department to immediately put the cars in service once they arrive.

Installing the equipment after the vehicle is received can take up to a month during which time the car is sitting at a shop and not out patrolling the streets.

Paving Plans

In other business, the Board of Aldermen is advertising for contractors to do up to $250,000 worth of paving around town. Town Engineer Shaun Miles said the current plans include paving Clinton and Koosa drives, with the town looking to add additional roads if funding allows.

Money for paving is coming out of the town’s modernization, or internet use tax fund. The fund was created in 2018 by the Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act, which put a 7% use tax on online and out-of-state sales. A portion of the collected use tax is given to local governments to help fund infrastructure projects. Funds are typically distributed twice per year, with half of the annual allocation coming in January and half in July.

Marion aldermen are hoping to get the funds allocated by the end of the calendar year as the state Department of Revenue has reduced allocations to cities and counties that fail to use the money.