Young: How Government Spending Grows Out of Control
Photo: The City of Horn Lake Animal Shelter, currently under construction.
By Dave Young
Every week and every day, we receive reports from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Washington, D.C., about massive levels of wasteful spending within the Federal Government. DEI programs typically make the headlines, but it is more than that. Contracts slated initially for three months continue to be paid for 15 years—cost-plus contracts double or triple their original value, and so on.
This issue doesn’t just happen in Washington, D.C., or Jackson, Mississippi. It also happens here in DeSoto County. A masterclass in wasteful spending can be found in Horn Lake, Mississippi. Horn Lake, a city of approximately 27,000 citizens, recently decided it needed a new animal shelter. By all accounts, it did. Its current shelter is old, dramatically undersized, and in poor condition. This is usually how these boondoggle spending projects start: a real problem must be addressed. Elected leaders attempt to tackle it but then make poor financial decisions. This is the case here.
Horn Lake decided to build a new animal shelter of approximately 10,500 square feet to replace the old one. The construction cost of the new shelter was $4.8 million, not including the price of the land; the school system still owns the land. That works out to approximately $457, per square foot in construction costs. For comparison, commercial finished construction costs in the DeSoto County area typically range from $185 to $250 per square foot.
A better way to look at it would be to compare Horn Lake’s animal shelter to two others within our county. Hernando, a city of 20,000, just completed an animal shelter, and Olive Branch, a city of 47,000, has just started construction of its own. Hernando completed its new 3,600-square-foot animal shelter that will house 38 animals for approximately $1.2 million, or $330 per square foot. Olive Branch is just beginning its new animal shelter, which will cost $ 2.9 million for 6,600 square feet of space, $ 439 per foot. This cost included the land.
One must ask why Horn Lake needs a 10,500-square-foot animal shelter. Hernando is slightly smaller than Horn Lake, and its animal shelter is over 9,000 square feet smaller. Olive Branch is significantly larger than Horn Lake, yet its animal shelter is roughly half the size. These cities have spent substantially less money in both cases than our city of Horn Lake.
Hernando will spend 400 percent less, and Olive Branch will pay 39 percent less. While Horn Lake’s shelter might be said to be more appealing to the eye than the others, the real question when spending taxpayers’ money is not how nice the facility looks but rather whether it gets the job done with the least amount of money. The numbers of animals in all our municipalities are overwhelming, as is Horn Lake. This is just way too much for a city our size.
The new Horn Lake animal shelter’s costs do not include the financing costs, which must be added to the equation. The City of Horn Lake had to borrow $6 million for the animal shelter. The total interest and cost of the shelter loan equal a total payback of $8,488,247. Your monthly cost before staffing or support is $47,156.93 per month for 15 years.
The City Hall renovations were a separate loan. The total amount borrowed was 2.5 million, with a repayment of 3.5 million. The total due is 12 million Tax Dollars on two projects.
Yes, Horn Lake needed an animal shelter, but It Also needed an efficient one that did not waste taxpayers’ money. Horn Lake did not get that. Our city has unnecessary debt due to poor financial decisions made by some aldermen. Unfortunately, Alderman Guice and Alderman Klein led the charge for the facility that Horn Lake is building.
Now, during the heat of a municipal campaign, when they are receiving appropriate criticism for their decisions, they consistently attack me to deflect from their bad choices, hoping to affect the election. It is really cheap politics.
While some of the statements I made early in this process, many before the final number hit the books, may not have been accurate regarding the amounts referenced, the spirit of my comments are correct. This albatross lies in the lap of my fellow aldermen who voted for this shelter and have made a poor decision for the taxpayers of Horn Lake, and that calls into question their judgment and ability to operate this city with the citizen’s best interest in mind.
Alderman Dave Young
City of Horn Lake.
Note: Dave Young is Ward 4 Alderman for the City of Horn Lake. Young is also a Republican candidate for Mayor of Horn Lake. The preceding opinion article was written and submitted for posting by Young and opinions expressed here are his and not necessarily those of this publication.
