Four days from now, 2014 will become a memory, and 2015 the present.
But officials with the City of Vicksburg will be looking at 2015 as the future as two major projects discussed in 2014 move into the new year with the possibility of becoming reality. And an air of mystery surrounds both.
The city’s proposed and much needed capital improvements plan will be implemented in a form not yet determined by the city’s capital improvements committee. The sports complex, an idea that has been discussed for the past 11 years is getting closer to a shovel in the ground. And both will involve a lot of soul searching and debate by city officials.
The capital improvements committee has taken a fiscally responsible step by agreeing to fund the proposed capital improvements program in phases, rather than go out in a limb and borrow the $17.5 million to fund the program in one lump sum. It’s a plan that makes good fiscal sense and makes it easier to afford the badly needed repairs and upgrades to the city’s street, infrastructure, recreation facilities and public buildings.
The only question is how to pay for it. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. says the bonds can be paid off using money from the city’s general fund. North Alderman Michael Mayfield said the mayor should be cautious when considering using the city’s operating fund to pay off a loan. On April 1, the capital improvements committee will make its decision and take it to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Flaggs said he will know by then whether the city’s revenue stream will be sufficient to pay the city’s bills and pay off a loan that could run between $5 million and $12.5 million. Can the general fund handle the load? Will city taxpayers see a millage increase? Either way, we’ll pay for it. The only question is by how much.
The sports complex presents another series of questions: Where will it be located? What will it look like? Will the Warren County Board of Supervisors get on board? How much will it cost?
The city’s ad hoc recreation committee on Dec. 15 recommended a multipurpose recreation complex and presented a drawing for a facility that covered about 270 acres. There’s still much to be done before such a facility becomes reality — site studies, feasibility studies and cost.
In the case of the sports complex, the price tag is the 600-pound gorilla in the room. The city will not be able to dip into the general fund to pay for a complex, and will have to find some alternate means of financing the project. The possible alternatives include what former Mayor Paul Winfield proposed during his efforts to get a sports complex — a sales tax or an additional tax on food and beverages and hotel rooms — or a millage increase. And the Legislature in the past few years has been very reluctant to approve so-called local option sales taxes.
So the big mystery is, will the citizens of Vicksburg and (possibly) Warren County want to ante up for better facilities and potential economic development?
Humorist Will Rogers once said, “No man wants his cause as much as he talks about it.” When it comes to the sports complex, it will be interesting to see if that saying is true if taxpayers who say they want and support a sports complex have to reach into their pockets.