Growing older may not be cause for celebration, but if a taxpayer was born in 1947 and turned 65 last year, there’s one bit of good news: he or she qualifies for an additional exemption from ad valorem taxes assessed to property they own.
The state of Mississippi offers all eligible taxpayers a regular exemption from ad valorem taxes – with limits. The exemption is limited to the first $7,500 of assessed value of the property, but it is capped at a maximum of $300.

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A repaired water line serving an isolated community in the county became a point concern for a Tunica County couple after, in recent weeks, water from their faucets developed a foul odor.
But despite its smell, county utility representatives offered assurances that any water coming through the line was safe and poses no threat to users within the service area.
Janice and Sonny Cooper, who recently moved to Alabama after selling their home on Fish Lake Road, just east of White Oak Road, said they have been concerned about the safety of their water for weeks. The Coopers said their concern over their water grew after a water line serving a small cluster of homes in the area ruptured and was repaired by Tunica County Utility District personnel.

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Residents of a community in the eastern part of the county raised concerns about a planned development at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Jan. 7.
Derrick Crawford and Greg Caston spoke on behalf of Cypress Village residents, the adjacent property to a planned seven lot subdivision deemed Cypress Village Phase II.

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Starting with the election of Willie Crawford as Circuit Clerk in 1976, the majority black voting age population gradually chipped away at the historically white slate of county officials. James Dunn and then John Pickett were elected to the Board of Supervisors in the 1980s, then Pickett became Tunica County’s first black sheriff in modern history. In the past 20 years, black constables, justice court judges and coroners replaced their previously white counterparts.
But in the November 2011 general election, the transition was complete. Every county official sworn in at the start of the new year in 2012 was African American, except county prosecutor Chuck Graves. District 3’s Phillis Williams and Louise Linzy made personal history as the first African American females elected as supervisor and justice court judge respectively.
That change was only the first of many last year, however, as the newly constituted board moved quickly to distance themselves from policies and procedures of the past. At their first meeting, supervisors altered meeting times, personnel, salaries and travel procedures, hiring Joe Eddie Hawkins as Road Dept. manager and electing James Dunn, the member with the longest tenure, as Board president. Although the first of the month meeting time remained at 9 a.m. on Mondays in the boardroom, the other two regularly scheduled Board meetings began to convene at 5 p.m. upstairs in the courtroom.

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