AP – Miss. Governor’s Mansion gets nearly $50K touchup
NASCAR fans are helping the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion get a small facelift.
The state is spending $49,675 for a private contracting crew to repaint the four front columns and to do other maintenance work on the porch.
That’s almost as much as the $50,000 the state spent to build the two-story home in 1842.
State finance records obtained by The Associated Press show McGuffie Painting and Waterproofing Co. of Jackson is doing the spruce-up job. Scaffolding went up several days ago, and the work should be complete by Dec. 4, before Gov. Haley Barbour and his wife, Marsha, have Christmas receptions and the decorated home is open for holiday-themed public tours.
The work comes during a year when lagging tax collections have forced Barbour to slice millions from the state budget.
The repairs are not being paid out of the general budget. Instead, the money comes from the $35 people pay to buy specialty car tags with NASCAR logos, said Kevin Upchurch, executive director of the state Department of Archives and History.
AP
11/19/9
Magnolia Tribune
