By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors received some good news Monday regarding the county’s $20 million trust fund from the sale of the old Baptist hospital.
The fiscal year for the trust fund runs from April 1 to March 31. At the end of the 2023 fiscal year, the fund was valued at $20,057,949 and had taken a hard hit over the fiscal year due to the economy and stock market.
However, according to representatives from Green Square investment firm, at the end of the Fiscal Year 2023/2024 first quarter – June 30 – the fund was valued at $20,325,975 and, as of July 13, it was valued at $20, 493,685.
Both the city of Oxford and Lafayette County received $30M in 2012 when Baptist bought itself out of the old hospital lease to build the current facility. The city put all $30M into a trust fund. The county paid off its debt at $10M and put the remaining $20M into a trust fund.
At the end of the year, the county can take $3 of the fund’s value and has traditionally used those funds to pave and repair county roads. The Board decided not to take that $3 for 2023 since it would have brought the fund under the initial $20M principal.
