The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday to commit $125,000 toward an incentive package that Golden Triangle Regional Airport Director Mike Hainsey said is needed to help secure westbound air service for the airport.

The county’s commitment is part of a $1.5 million revenue-guarantee that Hainsey will present to airlines as he attempts to secure westbound air service. Hainsey is asking for a total of $500,000 from Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties and Columbus, Starkville and West Point. Hainsey is asking for $125,000 each from Lowndes County and the city of Columbus, $100,000 each from Oktibbeha County and Starkville, and $25,000 each from Clay County and West Point. The remainder of the funds will come through a $750,000 Small Community Air Service Development grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, along with $200,000 in gate fee waivers and $50,000 in marketing expenses that the airport will provide the carrier.

“Right now, our primary focus is on flights to Dallas with American Airlines,” Hainsey said.

Hainsey said West Point’s Board of Selectmen approved its $25,000 commitment during its board meeting Tuesday. He hopes to secure the commitments from the other local governments by Feb. 3 when he will make the final presentation at the Columbus city council meeting.

Thursday, Haines noted that the money would not have to come out of the current local government budgets.

“The payments would be made on a quarterly basis and the first wouldn’t be due until October,” Hainsey said.

Board president Harry Sanders asked what would happen if any of the other local governments chose not to participate.

“All of the entities had to meet the pledge or the plan or it’s a void deal,” Hainsey said.

District 5 superintendent Leroy Brooks asked Hainsey to clarify what would happen if the full amount of the local money was not needed to fulfill the revenue guarantee.

“Really, how it works is that we agree on a revenue number and this money would be used to make up the difference if the airline doesn’t reach that revenue number,” Hainsey said. “So this is a ceiling amount to be used to guarantee income for the first year of operations only. Any money not needed to fulfill the guarantee would be returned to the local governments based on the same formula we used to get he funding.”

In other business:

■ The board approved preliminary work on refinancing roughly $6.5 million in bond debt on the recommendation of consultant Steve Edds. Edds said refinancing would save the city 3 percent, which would be roughly $180,000. The board will meet Jan. 26 to approve the documents required to complete the refinancing process.

■ Entered into an agreement with the Lowndes County YMCA to offer a corporate membership for county employees. The YMCA agreed to waive its application fee and offer membership to the employees at its reduced corporate rate. The county will not pay any portion of the monthly fees.

■ Agreed to sell a piece of property at the old Health Department Building on Military Road to Cynthia Killingsworth for $5,000, the appraised value of the land. Killingsworth’s was the highest on two bids on the property.

■ Addressed questions about why duplicate road signs have appeared on state-aid roads in the county. County road manager Ronnie Burns explained that two crews were working to replace the old signs with new signs, but that removal of the old signs had not kept pace with installation of the new signs.

“The good thing is that we’ll be able to keep use the old signs on other roads when they are removed,” Burns said.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].