State tax office could be in R’land
By MICHAEL SIMMONS
Madison County Board of Supervisors President Gerald Steen says the state should continue with a proposals process that could potentially bring the Mississippi Department of Revenue headquarters to Ridgeland.
The Requests for Proposals (RFP) calls for a lease of 15-20 years for a property with 175,000 square feet and a minimum of 550 parking spots.
The Ergon building on the Highland Colony Parkway is one of three finalists in the current RFP process by the state Department of Finance and Administration. It is the old Diversified Technologies building. The Landmark Center in downtown Jackson and South Pointe in Clinton, formerly the WorldCom Headquarters, are the other two finalists.
Steen plans to offer a resolution at the upcoming Feb. 18 meeting of the Board of Supervisors as two bills remain up in the air in the state Legislature that would make the RFP process moot.
Speaker of the House Philip Gunn introduced a bill that was passed by the House that would keep the state office in Clinton, but move it to the former WorldCom site.
Sen. David Blount of Jackson introduced a bill passed by the senate that would purchase the Landmark Center in downtown Jackson.
If either bill becomes law, the RFP process will stop. If neither bill passes, the RFP process continues.
In an op-ed written by Steen, he states, “Unfortunately, attempts are being made to circumvent the RFP process. Senator David Blount of Jackson has pushed through a bill in the state Senate to locate the Department of Revenue in Jackson. Speaker of the House Philip Gunn has pushed through a bill in the House to move the Department of Revenue to the old WorldCom building in Clinton. Hopefully they won’t be able to agree, and the RFP Process will work as intended.
“Sticking with the RFP does not guarantee the facility comes to Ridgeland, but it gives us a fair shot to compete and make our case. We want a level playing field to demonstrate why Madison County would be a good home for the Department of Revenue.”
State Sen. Will Longwitz, R-Madison, believes the RFP will ultimately be the avenue used for a new site selection.
“These (House and Senate) bills will likely cancel each other out, and neither will pass,” Longwitz, who voted against the Senate measure, said. “That leaves us exactly where we are now, with an ongoing RFP process to find the best site.
“The RFP process keeps politics out of these situations, and looks for the best deal and the best use for the taxpayers,” he continued. “That’s the way it should be, and that’s why I support letting the RFP process work.”
On Feb. 5, Dr. Bob Neal, senior economist with the Institutions of Higher Learning, released a report showing the estimated economic impact on Madison County if the Ridgeland site was chosen.
Neal estimates “reoccurring annual impacts are estimated to be 679 jobs, $33,530,000 in wages and salaries, and $119,700 in local sales taxes” after using figures submitted to him by the Madison County Economic Development Authority.
Those figures included 550 jobs with an average annual salary of $45,000, construction/renovation expenditures of $13 million, and 51,925 visitors to Madison County per year that spent $25 per visit.
Neal said short-term construction and renovation would generate 192 jobs and nearly $10 million in wages. Long-term, he estimated 679 jobs, both direct and secondary.
The RFP process has been ongoing since November as the DFA hopes to move from its current site inside a giant metal warehouse when the lease expires on June 30, 2014. Despite the two bills hanging in the air, the DFA continues with the RFP process and is currently performing “test fits” to see which building will meet the needs and is most cost-effective in that pursuit.
A five-member committee composed of three officials with the Department of Finance Administration and two from the Department of Revenue will make the final decision on the new site, new law notwithstanding, using criteria set at the beginning of the RFP process.
Commissioner of Revenue Ed Morgan directed specific questions to DFA, but said he foresees the RFP process concluding towards the end of the legislative session.
“I believe the process is on-time,” he said. “They’re pushing it pretty hard with the objectives. I think it’s a sound process. We’ll hopefully get some type of a conclusion or determination before the end of the session.”
