Adams County’s taxpayers are stakeholders in asphalt roads, industrial property and heavy equipment.

But for those investments each man, woman and child in the county is responsible for $712.12 of the county’s debt.

After making two major property purchases in 2013 — the former International Paper property and a warehouse property in the Natchez-Adams County Port — the county’s full debt obligation now totals $22,874,809.63.

Factoring in the interest that will accrue if all of the county’s bonds and lease purchase agreements are not paid off before they mature — $9,092,071.68 — the total debt obligation jumps to $31,966,881.31. The total county debt per person including interest is $995.17.

In the last fiscal year, the total principal debt was $11,745,350.

Big money

The largest county debts are the $9.225 million general obligation bond taken out to purchase the former International Paper property earlier this year — a bond that will ultimately generate $5.97 million in interest — and $5.56 million special obligation bonds that will generate $1,494,275 in interest.

The special obligation bond was originally $7.96 million, and is a bundled payment for three projects, the county’s debt owed on the juvenile justice building, what is owed for the construction of the port’s T-dock and building renovations.

In fiscal year 2014, the county will pay $285,000 in principal balance and two interest payments of $247,084.38 and $237,475.54 for the bond associated with the International Paper property.

The county purchased the property at the behest of Natchez Inc., which wanted control of the industrial wastewater treatment facility associated with the property as an economic development tool as well as the ability to control how the property itself is marketed.

For the special obligation bond, the county will pay $595,000 in principal and $222,750 in interest. Associated with the bond is an annual fiscal agent fee of $3,520. The port pays for a portion of the bond.

The county’s third largest bond note, a $3.3 million general obligation port improvement bond that was taken out to finance the purchase of a large warehouse in the port, will likewise be paid for by the port commission, which operates the warehouse — which generated approximately $500,000 in year-to-date gross revenue by June — and uses the proceeds for port operations.

Under an agreement recently reached with the county, the port will pay the county $340,000 a year to operate the port, and the payment will be used to pay the warehouse property’s debt.

In 2014, the county will pay $160,000 in principal and $148,500 in interest for the warehouse property.

Other payments

Infrastructure isn’t cheap, and in 2014 the county will pay $269,904 in principal for debt owed on roadwork monies taken out in 2011 and 2013. The combined roadwork debt will generate $55,702.11 in interest for the year.

The county owes $342,697.20 in principal for 12 Chevrolet Tahoes that were lease-purchased for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and $147,504 for seven trucks purchased for the road department in 2012.

Other equipment the county is paying for through lease-purchase agreements includes computers and information technology equipment, tractors and electronic control consoles for the juvenile justice detention center and E911 services.

The county has a total of $1,316,413.63 in lease purchase debt for 12 different purchases that will generate $68,814.74 in interest over the course of the purchase contracts.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the practice of lease purchasing items began before he was on the board and helps the county because it spreads out payments rather than requiring a large lump-sum payment at one time.

“It helps prevent putting a burden on the taxpayers in purchasing those vehicles and that equipment,” he said.

Though it is not technically debt, Adams County has also obligated itself to give Copiah-Lincoln Community College two payments annually, $420,000 for maintenance and $373,396.

Future spending?

All of the Adams County supervisors said they are comfortable with the county’s level of debt as it stands, but they would be reluctant to borrow anything else.

“I am glad we were able to take on this indebtedness that we have without forcing us to have a tax increase, but I don’t feel that we should take on any more until we can finalize some of the things that are at hand or retire some of that debt,” Supervisor Angela Hutchins said.

Supervisor Calvin Butler voiced similar sentiments.

“I would not want to exceed what we have now, but we are not trying to spend any more money until some things happen,” he said. “If you don’t put yourself out there and take a chance, you never know how it would have turned out, so we are hoping the investment we have made will pay off in the end.”

Grennell said he has had meetings this week with an existing company in Adams County about a portion of the International Paper property and is already seeing a benefit to the county from the acquisition of the property — even if it does mean indebtedness.

But Supervisor Mike Lazarus said even if the IP property is sold in the coming year, that bond isn’t callable for five years.

“The penalty for paying off a bond that is not yet callable is two years interest, which is several million dollars, and you wouldn’t want to do that,” he said.

“What we could do is take the money from that sale and pay off other bonds that may have a higher interest rate anyway.”

Supervisor David Carter said none of the debt decisions made this year were made lightly, and he knows that other projects will have to wait until some of the debt is paid down.

“Personally, I hate debt,” he said. “I would love to see us get to a point where we could pay off some of those general obligation bonds and invest more in our general county recreation or something like that.”