Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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May 5
The Sun Herald of Gulfport on how tourism is picking up on Mississippi’s coast:
Tourism is picking up momentum across the Coast just in time for summer, according to Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast.
And that’s great news for anyone living here. Because the more people spend money and have fun on the Coast, the more tourism attractions we can build. And the more attractions we can offer, the more people will come. That’s the kind of cycle we like to see unfold.
Visit MGC Executive Director Renee Areng and her staff brought a bunch of good news to back up those assertions on a recent visit to the Sun Herald:
? There were 6.2 million visitors in 2016, an 8 percent increase over 2015, and well on the way to the 2020 goal of 7 million visitors.
? There were 30,300 leisure and hospitality jobs last year, an increase of 2,410 since 2012. Tourism is the largest private-sector industry on the Coast.
? The $1.99 billion spent by visitors last year was a 10 percent increase from 2015.
? The Coast spent $81 million on tourism capital improvements.
? We have 14,533 hotel rooms, which, added to the 1,500 being planned or built, would put the Coast very near the pre-Katrina level of nearly 16,100 rooms.
? There was an 8 percent increase in non-casino hotel revenue.
? Hotel revenue was up more than 5 percent in 2016.
But even with all that good news, Visit MGC isn’t satisfied. It sees room for improvement in most every direction.
It has trained more than 600 Coast Champions - people on the front lines of tourism who now are well versed in everything there is to see and do on the Coast. But it wants to train even more. Staffers will train your employees if you have at least 10 who want to become Champions.
There is a One Coast specialty license plate in the works, but it needs your help. So far, 110 people have signed up to get one. To get the plate made, 300 must order one by May 15. Sign up at GulfCoast.org.
Visit MGC wants to help attract a hotel near the Coast Coliseum and Convention Center to bring in conventions that demand a hotel within walking distance of convention facilities.
It also wants to better market sports, such as baseball and basketball tournaments and gymnastics meets, as One Coast rather than three separate counties. It is working with Mississippi Gulf Coast Golf Association to boost sales of golf packages, which have been in decline.
Visit MGC also is helping attractions gauge their markets so they won’t be closed on the days visitors are here to visit. It wants more people to visit outdoor attractions such as the Sandhill Crane Refuge, the Pascagoula River Audubon Center and Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Visit MGC is trying to attract more flights to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and is aiding the effort to bring Amtrak passenger train service back to the Coast.
Finally, it is backing the effort to make Spring Break a successful event, because, Areng said, “Anyone who comes to the Coast falls in love with the Coast.”
We agree. And we’re happy the Coast finally is taking an organized, well-planned and unified approach to attract visitors to the entire region.
Online: https://www.sunherald.com
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May 8
The Greenwood Commonwealth on highway funding:
Republicans in the Mississippi Legislature are so determined to avoid raising taxes for highway maintenance that they’re willing to give up some of their cherished authority.
The easy and obvious solution to the highway funding problem - brought on by higher construction costs and declining revenue due to more fuel-efficient vehicles - is to raise the state gasoline tax.
Mississippi has taxed fuel sales at 18.4 cents per gallon for the past 30 years, and the money the tax brings in today isn’t keeping up with the state’s highway needs.
Of course, nobody likes higher taxes. But leaving things as they are will lead to a slowly deteriorating highway network, one which the state invested billions to build. As groups such as the Mississippi Economic Council have noted, this would harm the state economy - which can hardly be the goal of legislative leaders.
It may be that Republicans in the Legislature have signed one of those documents in which they promise never to vote for a tax increase.
Perhaps that’s why House Speaker Philip Gunn and other lawmakers released a list of proposals last week to pay for improved highways and bridges that includes everything but a higher fuel tax.
The most comical idea is to allow cities and counties to hold referendums to see which voters would raise fuel taxes in their areas.
Municipal officials are among those rolling their eyes at that one. For several years a number of cities have asked Republican lawmakers for permission to increase the sales tax in their town to pay for specific projects, such as street paving.
The cities have been willing to hold a referendum to get voter approval, but the anti-tax legislative majority is relentlessly opposed. The only local-option taxes it has been willing to consider are those on hotels and restaurants to fund tourism-promotion efforts.
Fair enough. But now they want to let each city or county vote on fuel taxes? This is so ridiculous that it seems like an idea intentionally set up to fail.
Why would any set of voters in one city or county approve a fuel tax increase when they know very well that voters a few miles away might reject it? Where’s the fairness in that?
There are all sorts of highway funding ideas. Gov. Phil Bryant thinks a state lottery might help, even though it will prey on those who can least afford to gamble away their money. The House wanted to put revenue from online sales taxes into highways, but Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves killed the plan during this year’s legislative session. The House also wants the state to borrow $50 million to help cities and counties with bridge replacement costs.
This is too much bending and twisting. If lawmakers continue like that, they’ll wind up looking like Gumby toys.
Over the past 30 years, Mississippi spent a lot of money to build an excellent system of roads - a system, it should be noted, that extends to every single county in the state.
This investment has maintenance costs, and the people of the state ought to share the expense fairly. At the same time, the Legislature ought to do its job and make a tax decision instead of pawning it off on the public.
Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com/
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May 10
The Oxford Eagle on cuts that may affect mental health care:
Mississippi was already widely considered as the worst state for mental health availability and support for its residents.
Now, it’s likely to get worse due to substantial cuts in the Mississippi Department of Mental Health due to state budget woes.
Already, Mississippi is facing a lawsuit filed last year by the U.S. Justice Department alleging the state relies too much on psychiatric hospitals and other institutions, as opposed to community care. Under federal law and court decisions, states are supposed to help people live at home and not in institutions.
The state budget cuts start at the top, and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health plans to eliminate 650 positions, some through layoffs, over the next year because of state budget cuts that begin July 1.
Two local agencies directly impacted include Communicare and the North Mississippi Regional Center in Oxford. Communicare has been at level funding in recent years despite Oxford being one of the fastest growth cities in the South.
NMRC will be eliminating evaluations and therapeutic services to infants and children under 3 years old due to the budget cuts.
It’s troubling that as our community grows, increasing the need for mental health services, our resources are either frozen or dwindling. For the future, we will need to find solutions.
Online: https://www.oxfordeagle.com/
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