Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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Feb. 7
The Greenwood Commonwealth on the results of a performance audit of the Mississippi Department of Transportation:
A performance audit of the Mississippi Department of Transportation released this month revealed few major potential cost savings.
Its biggest finding was that MDOT could save $13 million in future costs by not replacing under-utilized vehicles. That’s only roughly 1 percent of the agency’s $1.1 billion budget.
The audit had a few other recommendations but was mostly complimentary of MDOT’s management. It found projects are bid fairly and transparently and that best practices are used to ensure consultant contracts are awarded to the most qualified firm at a fair price.
Although the audit findings are mostly good news for the state’s taxpayers, some members of the Legislature may be disappointed. State leaders have in recent years tried to pass the buck for their refusal to provide enough money to maintain the state’s highways and bridges onto MDOT, saying that if the agency operated more efficiently, then it wouldn’t need so much funding.
In that vein, the Legislature commissioned the State Auditor’s Office to do the performance audit in 2018 when it approved up to $80 million annually for roads and bridges from the proceeds of a new state lottery. The auditor’s office hired a firm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with national expertise to lead the audit.
Rather than showing MDOT’s inefficiencies, if anything the 125-page study makes another case for why a gas-tax increase is merited. That’s because the lack of spending on infrastructure has narrowed the field of companies interested in bidding on highway-paving projects.
“The data show a pronounced trend over time towards more counties receiving just one or two bids per contract - most likely an unintended consequence of MDOT’s programmatic shift away from any new construction/expansion to almost exclusively system preservation,” the audit said. “The asphalt industry appears to have consolidated to align with MDOT’s shrinking program.”
It said that until MDOT significantly expands its construction program, “asphalt plant locations and capacity will continue to act as a key market constraint, responsible for driving higher bid pricing.”
MDOT has tried to offset that by rebidding projects that come in too high. Auditors praised the agency for that, saying it has saved $4.5 million from 2016 to 2018 by rebidding.
However, the only real solution to getting more bidders interested in road projects in Mississippi is to put more money on the table. A 2015 Mississippi Economic Council study, also commissioned by the Legislature, found that an additional $375 million per year was needed just to keep up existing roads and bridges. That figure has surely increased since then due to inflation and highways crumbling further.
The $80 million from the lottery is nowhere near enough to do the job. An increase in the gas tax, which hasn’t been adjusted since 1987, is the obvious and fairest way to do the job. MDOT can pinch pennies all it wants, but until the gas tax is raised, the state’s highways and bridges will only get worse.
Online: http://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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Feb. 7
The Vicksburg Post on the upkeep of roads and bridges in western Mississippi:
This month, the Warren County Board of Supervisors approved the outline of the county’s four-year road plan.
The presentation of this plan is required at the beginning of each term and, in the case of the plan adopted on Feb. 3, details the projects local and state highway officials believe should be completed using funds from the state of Mississippi.
The projects range from those in the northern part of the county in the Eagle Lake area to multiple spots along Fisher Ferry Road and just about everywhere in between.
But, this plan is admittedly incomplete. While it meets the requirements of approving a plan by a certain date, the plan does not lay out what county-funded projects supervisors, in consultation with county engineer Keith O’Keefe, would like to see completed in the next four years.
Those conversations are continuing and O’Keefe said such a plan could be finalized in the coming months.
The upkeep of our roads and bridges is at the very core of the job description for each of the supervisors. In fact, one of the requirements of their job is to ride all of the county roads each year. It is also another reason why supervisors are provided county trucks.
This is also one of the jobs that brings about the most heartburn for supervisors in the form of complaints from their constituents.
As residents, we are selfish. We want our roads and our streets paved and kept in top shape. But, there’s only so much money - whether that is coming from state coffers or from county funds - to go around.
Supervisors must prioritize where to best allocate those few dollars and that money must be spent on the roads and projects that are in the most need. We look forward to seeing the final road plan in the coming weeks.
Online: http://www.vicksburgpost.com
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Feb. 5
The Neshoba Democrat on a Hinds County case that demonstrates the need for prison and mental health reform:
Habitual offender Robert Leon Jackson had been out of prison for seven months on the state’s Earned Release Supervision Program - separate from parole - when he murdered Megan Staats and Jeremy Apperson at the CEFCO convenience store here two summers ago.
Since Jackson was first jailed in November 2002 for armed robbery at age 14 in Hinds County, he has spent over 80% of his life in jail. Even with that staggering amount of time behind bars, Jackson served less than 48% of his total sentences.
Here’s a man who should have been behind bars when he drove his black Ford Crown Victoria from Jackson to Philadelphia looking for money and in less than five minutes let loose a reign of terror that has forever changed the lives of our friends, loved ones and neighbors.
Jackson, 31, pleaded guilty on Feb. 3 in Neshoba County Circuit Court to two counts of capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty to five other lesser charges totaling 90 years.
“It is the intent of this plea that Robert Jackson never be release from prison and that he will never be able to hurt anyone again,” District Attorney Steven S. Kilgore told the court.
The DA said - and we agree - that the plea was the best outcome for all involved since there was a good chance that Jackson would be found to be too developmentally challenged to be executed.
We learned definitively that good guys with guns interrupted Jackson’s rampage, keeping the death toll from rising higher.
Jackson had no recollection of his actions in Philadelphia that day, his attorneys told Judge Mark S. Duncan, who went to great lengths to ensure Jackson understood his plea and the consequences.
The facts, although necessary, were an excruciating replay of the horror that day recited aloud in the courtroom, a stark reminder that pure evil exists and that those forces invaded our quiet town.
The real sin may be Mississippi’s corrections system, especially one that would let Jackson out so often. Perhaps more damning is a political culture in Hinds County that favors sympathy or excuses over justice.
Jackson has suffered from mental illness all of his life, a woman identifying herself as a family member told the Democrat in a Facebook message pleading that the newspaper turn off comments on the post about the plea.
“They just drug your child and have them walking around like a zombi high off medication ’til where they can’t have a normal life,” she wrote.
The other thing that stands out in the replay is the quick and full response of local law enforcement.
Based on 911 radio logs, the first call came in at 5:30 p.m., officers arrived on scene at 5:33 p.m. and had the suspect in custody at 5:35 p.m. near the Econo Lodge breezeway just west of the CEFCO.
No amount of applauding law enforcement or even justice in this plea deal is going to bring Megan and Jeremy back, but this case ought to be held up as a reason for serious prison and mental health reform.
Online: http://www.neshobademocrat.com
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