Although no motions were made and no votes were taken, the Lowndes County board of supervisors agreed during Wednesday’s meeting to accept most of the proposed changes for a joint resolution with the city asking an extension of the county’s 2-percent restaurant sales tax.
All five supervisors said they were amenable to the city’s proposals for changes in the resolution, with supervisor Bill Brigham saying he would even support a plan for the city to get a larger share of the revenues than the county.
The city has requested to receive 20 percent (about $400,000) from the tax revenue as well as $100,000 annually to complete the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater and a lowering of the floor on what restaurants must collect the tax (to $100,000 in annual sales). For the current 10-year term, set to expire in June unless the Mississippi Legislature renews it before then, that floor is set at $325,000.
Without a joint resolution, state lawmakers are unlikely to renew the tax that now funds the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau for tourism and dedicates more than $200,000 each year to the Golden Triangle Development LINK for economic development.
There is one point the county is unwilling to concede, however.
Supervisors insist they will not agree to the city’s proposed plan to change the make-up of the CVB board of directors. The city is proposing the CVB board be composed of seven members, with five of those members being appointed by the city and two by the county. The CVB is currently made up of nine members, with four members appointed by city, four by the county and one jointly selected.
Supervisor Leroy Brooks asked for the authority to approach Mayor Robert Smith to see if the mayor was open to compromise on that point.
“Let me talk to Robert,” Brooks said. “I have a couple of ideas I want to say to them and see if they think it makes sense. If they say they don’t want to do it, I don’t know what to do, but I think it may work.”
Apart from the CVB board make-up, the supervisors said the other changes were something they could support.
“Leroy, when we authorized you to talk to the city to find out what they wanted, you came back with a list of things they wanted,” Board President Harry Sanders said. “One of them was that they wanted 20 percent of the (tax revenue) for recreation. We’re OK with that. They wanted money for the amphitheater. Fine. They wanted to do away with the floor. That’s OK.
“The only thing I disagreed with was the composition of the board and I’m not going to change my mind on that,” he added.
Unequal division of funds
Brooks asked supervisors if they would be willing to accept a plan that would divert more of the tax revenue to the city than the county.
“We do have more money than the city, but this is our city and in my opinion, sometimes we do need to give a little bit more,” Brigham said. “I don’t have a problem listening to those kind of things.”
Sanders said under the new proposal, the city would be able to fund its entire recreation department at the same level it has been funding it without providing any of its own money.
“If they get 20 percent, that’s $400,000 for parks,” Sanders said. “Plus, we’ve agreed to give them $200,000. That’s $600,000, which is what they’ve been spending on recreation for all these years. The city wouldn’t put in any of its money. I don’t think that’s right.”
Sanders said he believes the mayor’s opposition to working out a deal is based partly on a misconception.
“Robert and the city don’t think we a have a recreation department because we pulled out of the CLRA,” Sanders said. “I don’t think they realize that we are talking to the Game and Fish people about taking over the ball fields at Lake Lowndes or that we are talking about taking over the ball fields and what have you at West Lowndes (Middle School) or building a new community center at Concorde or that we’re taking over the maintenance at the soccer complex.
“We’re probably spending more money on recreation right now than the city is,” he added.
District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith brought the conversation back to the main point of contention.
“The composition of the board is the issue,” Smith said. “Everything else here on the table can be worked out and negotiated. So I guess the question is how can we get to that point.”
Brigham again pointed out his opposition to the change in the board make-up and said he’s hopeful there are some on the council who would back away from that demand.
“I do believe there are some people on the city side who don’t feel good about the board composition, too,” Brigham said. “We would lose any negotiation at all if we go with a 5-2 board. We would never have any board input.”
Brooks remained hopeful.
“Nobody wants blood on their hands with this thing,” he said. “It’s like who’s going to blink first. I don’t think anybody in this room wants the people saying, ‘Hell, over a 10-year period y’all let $20 million go.’ Nobody wants to deal with that.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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