The Oxford EAGLE along with Supertalk 93.7 will host a political debate at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Oxford Conference Center. The event will be aired live that night on 93.7 for those who can’t attend the debate.

Twelve candidates have been invited to attend the debate, with all three contested supervisor races and the House District 12 race and Senate District 9 race included.

The debate will be a question-and-answer format with a moderator. Candidates will have an allotted time to answer questions to keep the debate into a two-hour time frame.

The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors just passed a $45,284,566 budget that included a 2.49-mill increase, which is the first increase in millage in 10 years. The position of supervisor is more important than ever with the growth that Lafayette County has experienced.

Part of the budget cuts is due to the $800,000 cut in revenue that the county was receiving for housing federal prisoners. One of the other expenses that we feel is absolutely necessary is increasing the fire department budget from 1.2 mills to 2 mills.

As board president, Jeff Busby said, “When it comes to protecting this county, you can’t put a dollar amount on that. We have over 640 square miles to maintain. We have a very safe county and that’s why people want to come and live in the county.”

In the house and senate race, the main topic of the race has focused on Iniative 42. If passed, this would fully fund public education in the state of Mississippi. With two strong school systems in Oxford and Lafayette County and the University of Mississippi close by, fully funding public education is a hot topic.

Candidates who are invited include Supervisor District 1 Republican candidate Rickey Babb, Democrat Kevin Frye, and Independent Brian Hyneman.

In Supervisor District 3 Republican candidates David Rikard, Democrat Dale Timothy Gordon and Independent Zack Carey. In Supervisor District 5 Democrat incumbent Mike Roberts and Republican Johnny Mike Fortner.

In House District 12 Republican incumbent Brad Mayo and Democrat candidate Jay Hughes. In Senate District 9 race Republican incumbent Gray Tollison and Democratic candidate Cristen Hemmins.

Mark your calendar for Oct. 28 and make plans on attending this debate. Hopefully, some of the questions you needed answered will be discussed and you will be more informed when you go to the polls Nov. 3.