Presley: PSC Makes Legislature Aware of $4 Million

PSC has volunteered $9 million for reallocation in the past two years.

January 19, 2011 (Jackson, Mississippi)- Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley (D-Nettleton) announced today that the Commission is sending a letter to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees making them aware of $4 million in unspent funds that is currently held in the Public Service Commission Regulation Fund. In the letter, sent today, the Commissioners state that the money cannot be spent by the agency “and therefore is available to be transferred and reallocated as the Legislature sees fit.”

Today’s announcement brings the total amount of funds returned to the Legislature by the PSC to $9 million in the past two years. Last year Commissioners volunteered $5 million in funds for reallocation.

In the letter the Commission attributes the accumulation of the unspent cash to years of conservative spending by the current and former Commissions.

“With today’s transfer of $4 million to the Legislature, we have, in total, sent back $9 million in two years. I believe we are the first state agency to ever voluntarily send back this amount of money for reallocation and I am proud to be a part of this effort,” Presley stated.

“As a state agency, we need to pitch in and see how we can help the state get through this tough financial time. For us to hold onto money, which cannot be used, just for the sake of doing so, would be wrong.” Presley said. “I think in this fiscal crisis this is the kind of action Mississippians expect to see from their elected officials and state agencies.”

from press release....