The Columbus City Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to move forward with a resolution to borrow $3 million in revenue bonds for a parks renovation project, mostly at Propst Park.

The project will cost $4.4 million, with about $3.4 million going to Propst Park. The majority of the funds will be used to swap the location of youth baseball and softball fields and to install turf on the baseball fields. The remainder of the plan at the park will include 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.

The city plans to repay the bonds through the 2% tourism tax, collected on prepared food and beverage sales, which will provide the city with $400,000 annually over the next 10 years. The city already has more than $1.4 million to put toward the project from the previous four years of collections.

Without any discussion Tuesday from council members on the resolution, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones moved, with a second from Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, to approve moving forward with issuing $3 million in bonds over the next two years. Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voted against the motion.

Financial adviser for Government Consultants, Nnambi Thompson told the councilmen they should receive the bond money in October.

The council approved a resolution of intent to issue bonds to support the $4.4 million project in May. Despite 846 citizens signing petitions or submitting emails of protest to City Hall by the July 18 deadline, the effort fell short of the 1,500 registered voters legally required to force the action to a public vote, Butler Snow attorney Sue Fairbank said.

“Even if you count all the objectors we have, and we did not even determine whether all of those objectors were valid, qualified electors, the petition was insufficient to require an election on the question whether or not an issue that so we can proceed now with the issuance of the debt,” Fairbank said.

Thompson said the firm will now present an application to the Mississippi Development Bank to be the debt issuer. He hopes to present that to the council on Aug. 15 for further approval of bond documents.

“At that point, we’ll come back to the city to adopt the bond documents that Sue Fairbank and Tray Hairston at Butler Snow will be drafting that helps put the parameters around the debt, and allows us to go out and sell,” Thompson said.

The council is still waiting to hear back on the 2021 Fiscal Year audit being completed by the Watkins, Ward and Stafford firm. It is expected to be complete within 30 days.

Thompson said it could help bring interest rates down on the debt. Current estimates show the city could pay as much as $1 million in interest and fees to borrow the money.

“You can issue the debt without the audit, but I would much rather have that audit in hand before we sell the debt,” he said.

Mayor Keith Gaskin doubted the audit would finish in that time frame and suggested the matter be discussed further at the council’s next work session.

“The auditors gave an estimate of 30 days, but it may not be ready in 30 days,” Gaskin said. “They’re still going through a lot of processes with the audit. So, I don’t think we can count on necessarily a 30-day window. It could be a little longer.”