Sales tax revenues are doing well due to stimulus money and businesses reopening this year according to Mississippi State Economist Corey Miller.
“More people are employed this year than they were last year. We’re still below where we were prior to the pandemic. But we are on a growth trend. We think it will continue through 2021 and into 2022. But that it will slow a little bit,” Miller said.
Miller predicts revenue growth then, will be just under one percent. The estimates help the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with reviewing state agency budget requests. Department of Public Safety head Sean Tindell wants to close some driver services stations and increase virtual operations.
“We look to have virtual examiners. We look to have in all courthouses across the state that want them, drivers services work stations where individuals can get on a computer and actually interact with a virtual examiner,” Tindell said.
Tindell wants to establish a call center and a central printing location to reduce costs and increase security. He says Mississippi is one of only three state's without a call center. He's requesting $286 million to include raising trooper salaries to $50,000, upgrading computers and creating a cyber security unit.
The Department of Corrections wants to hire more officers at $31,000 annually. Commissioner Burl Cain says they hired 495 officers, lost 223 and have a long way to go to meet staffing needs. He says they are working with the same consultant the U.S. Department of Justice is using to do a staffing analysis at every facility. The department is facing several lawsuits for conditions within the prison system. Cain says he wants to prevent the agency from being put under a consent degree by DOJ.
The commissioner says they’re also opening an addiction treatment unit at the Walnut Grove facility October 18.
“We’re going to bring in 32 inmates in one of the tiers for 45 days. They’re going to have intense, intense treatment. The other unique thing is that they have to want to come,” Cain said.
Cain says they will be another 32 placed in the program once the first group completes treatment and moves into aftercare. He says those eligible to participate must have one year left on their sentence. He says 170 will go through the addiction treatment program, their capacity is 298.
Cain is requesting $410 million. The state general fund budget is estimated to be about $6 billion with an additional $1.8 billion from the American Rescue Plan.
