City budgets $175K to finance proposed annexation

PASCAGOULA — An additional $175,000 will come out of the Pascagoula general fund this fiscal year to finance annexation.

The Mississippi Press reports city leaders approved the budget amendment.

The city’s plan to annex about 21 square miles east of the city got rolling in fall 2010, and has been a subject of debate ever since. Proponents say that the millions in investment for things such as legal fees and infrastructure will pay off in the long run in the form of economic and tax-base growth.

Officials have said that the city would invest about $2 million in the first five years, but Councilman Jim Milstead and others predict it will be many times that figure.