Warren County supervisors saw maps of both sites eyed for a sports complex and could vote Monday whether to put Mayor Paul Winfield’s desire for a countywide sales tax before voters in November.

Winfield wants the county to act quickly on the tax plan so legislators can allow a referendum on this year’s general election ballot. Last week, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau officials supported the concept of a park but not a 1 percent tax hike to finance it.

“A referendum for the voters could be a disaster without proper information and time to do so,” District 5 Supervisor Richard George said. “For whatever reason, the city’s track record in planned and actually implemented recreational facilities and improvements is not good. Money has been borrowed on more than one occasion through the general obligation process. These taxpayers are aware of that.”

For now, George said, location isn’t as important as what the complex should look like.

“You’d better be able to identify not necessarily where (it will be). But, several possibilities — we need to build this many fields for these purposes, we will have this much parking, this much concession. The key is to enlighten the voter as to what they’re going to be paying for and how it’s going to stand in the future,” he said.

Winfield’s current call for a 1 percent tax levied countywide is aimed at raising up to $20 million to pay off a loan to buy and develop land for a sports park to replace Halls Ferry Park and serve as Vicksburg’s prime venue for youth baseball and soccer tournaments.

If the county supports it, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will take up the plan to replace a previous resolution from February to raise the hotel tax to 4 percent and impose a 1½ percent food and beverage tax.

April 20 is the deadline for legislators to introduce revenue-related bills to Local and Private committees in the House and Senate. The general election, which features races for president, Congress and the U.S. Senate, is Nov. 6. Any legislative act on the sports complex will stipulate 60 percent of voters countywide must vote for the tax.

Winfield has estimated a broader-based sales tax would raise about $5.04 million annually inside the city alone. Supervisors’ wondered about how the tax would affect the local economy and whether the entire proposal would have sticking power after city elections in 2013.

“You may be the next mayor, you may not,” District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said. “If the city and county agree to do the plan, who’s to say the next administration won’t come in and say, ‘Nah, I don’t like that.’”

“You’re going to touch businesses like car dealerships and equipment dealers with large increases,” District 1 Supervisor John Arnold said. “They’re not going to benefit from people coming here. I don’t think you’re going to get the 60 percent vote to do it.”

About 140 acres of undeveloped brush off U.S. 61 North surrounding River Region Medical Center and about 200 acres off Mississippi 27 behind Warren Central High School have been floated as sites, based largely on size and the chances that either could spur new commercial activity.

Winfield has said he will appoint a 10- to 14-person committee of local youth baseball, softball and soccer coaches and retired pro athletes to vet sites and develop the scope and size of the park. He said this morning, however, that he is delaying appointing the committee until he feels he has community support for the rec complex proposal.

The site near River Region, currently owned by businessmen Pete Buford and John Bell, is “personally my favorite,” Winfield said, because of the potential for retail development.

“This will put another hotel on 61 North or two, or some restaurants,” said Winfield. “This is not my project. I told everybody from the beginning don’t marry this project to me whether you like me or not. It’s about forward progress. And if we’re not picking up yardage, we’re not getting closer to the finish line.”

The site around Warren Central is owned by Susan Lum Runnels, et al, of Brandon, according to land records.

Winfield was accompanied Monday by Building and Inspections chief Victor Gray-Lewis, who said the project would go forward with the same “needs analysis” as one crafted to develop land off Fisher Ferry Road for a recreation area.

Former county supervisor David McDonald sat in for part of the meeting, but did not speak. He has worked to bring the city and the Lum heirs together.

The committee wouldn’t ignore the Fisher Ferry site in its study of the proposal, Winfield said. In 2003, the city paid $250,000 for 200 acres near St. Michael Catholic Church for a sports complex and spent an additional $2.7 million in planning and engineering over the next six years before the project was abandoned in 2009. Part of the site is in a flood zone, including the access route, making it unsuitable for recreation and the city has discussed selling the tract, Winfield has said.

An effort in 2007 to build a $25 million complex over the existing Halls Ferry Park died a year later after the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said the project wouldn’t pass an environmental test because it’s built atop the former city landfill.

In 2010, the city sued in Warren County Circuit Court to recoup $250,000 paid to Florida-based USA Partners Sports Alliance for a feasibility study. The case was re-filed in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2011 and the funds are still “in the process” of being reclaimed, Winfield said Monday.