Bolivar
County Port
Commission pays off debt
Bolivar
County’s Supervisors and Port Commission officials
were excited to have recently paid off a 25 year old, $4
million bond which assisted in developing the Bolivar County
port in Rosedale.
The money was borrowed in 1977, and Chancery Clerk Jeanne
Walker said the money was well worth it.
“The economic impact of the port has been incredible,”
she notes.
David Work, port commission director, since August of 1977,
syas the port has brought in 1,500 to 1,700 industrial jobs
directly or indirectly related to the port, and around $50
to $60 million dollars. “Not to mention the agricultural
jobs or money brought in,” he adds.
“We are hoping in the years to come that we can continue
to create more economic development,” Work says.
Industries which settled in Bolivar County due to the port
are Cives Steel Co. and Duo-Fast. Jimmy Sanders Inc. also
benefits from the port because it helps save on the cost
of shipping.
“They settled because of the easy accessibility for
transportation,” Walker says.
She adds that the board has also been successful in securing
matching grants to enhance the port. “There are two
other loans to pay off, and hopefully once the county collects
the millage for the port obligations for this fiscal year,
there is a strong possibility that little or no millage
will be needed,” she says. “This will save taxpayers
a lot of money.” The other two loans should be paid
off by 2007.
Work said in the last ten years, the port commission has
been financing projects themselves from using income from
the terminal.
“Through the Mississippi Development Authority we’ve
borrowed money ourselves to make infrastructural improvements,”
he says. Walker recalls she saw the port in the developmental
stages, and she’s proud of how far it has come. DBJ
