Columbus City Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to borrow $3 million to fund a renovation plan for Propst Park.
The total cost of the renovation is around $4.4 million, with the additional $1.4 million coming from money the city already has on hand from the 2% tourism tax. The tax, which is applied to sales of prepared food and beverage within the city limits, will bring the city about $4 million for recreation over the next 10 years.
Recreation Director Greg Lewis proposed three plans to renovate the park at Thursday’s work session, which ranged in cost from $1.8 million to $5.4 million. The council chose the middle option, at $4.4 million.
About $3.4 million would be spent at Propst Park, with the major costs dedicated to swapping the youth baseball and softball fields rather than building new fields. The new location for the baseball fields would allow them to be turfed, which isn’t practical now due to flooding concerns at the current site.
The remainder of the plan at Propst calls for improvements to playgrounds, the splash pad, installing pickleball courts, upgrading lighting at the Field of Dreams and improvements to existing pavilions.
Outside of Propst, about $643,000 will be spread among seven community centers and $250,000 will be set aside for operations and maintenance.
Chief Financial Officer James Brigham said some cuts were likely going to have to be made to those numbers to account for costs and interest.
“The cost of issuance on $3 million will run somewhere around $150,000 to $200,000, and that has to be accounted for,” Brigham said. “Something has to be reduced to take care of that cost. … I would go with first applying with the Mississippi Development Bank and seeing what kind of (interest) rate we would get.”
Brigham estimated the interest payments would come to $1 million over 10 years.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene pushed back, suggesting the city avoid borrowing money and do the work in phases, starting with what it has on hand now.
“We could come back and revisit this next year and see what additional things we need to make that park like we need it to be,” Greene said. “It makes my stomach hurt to think we’re about to spend all that money in interest. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Mayor Keith Gaskin also wanted to wait.
“I definitely want to invest in Propst Park, and I want to make sure this money is used for Propst Park,” Gaskin said. “… Because I know the situation with our debt now, I’m a little leery about taking on more debt. I think we should invest what we have (on hand) in it and commit that $400,000 for the next 10 years to it.”
The city has about $28 million in debt currently.
Beard asked Brigham for his opinion, and Brigham said costs and interest would eat up part of what could otherwise be spent at the park.
“If we paid as we went, the (money that would be paid as interest) is additional funds that could go in the park,” Brigham said. “What you’re looking at is if you want it today, you have to pay a big chunk of that as interest.”
Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart said it was time to take action.
“To get money you don’t have, unless you win the lottery, you have to borrow,” Stewart said. “We got the tax dollars that will take care of the loan. I can’t make this decision by myself, but I’m not willing to sit here and keep talking about Propst Park. You either vote for it or you decline.”
Beard moved, with a second by Stewart, to approve the $4.4 million plan and to borrow $3 million. The motion passed 4-2, with Stewart, Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, Beard and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voting yes and Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting no.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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