Board OKs resolution for tourism tax

Published 11:50 am Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Money to build a proposed new multipurpose sports complex could come from a tax on food and beverages and hotel rooms.

How much will be levied and whether it will be a countywide tax or charged only in the city will be resolved later.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday approved two resolutions for local and private bills from the Legislature seeking authority to levy up to a 2 percent food and beverage and hotel tax, pending a referendum. The taxes would be in addition to the 7 percent sales tax and two additional special taxes already levied on food and beverages and hotel stays.

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One resolution seeks to levy the tax in the city only; the other to levy the tax countywide. The resolutions also seek authority to sign a long-term lease property to a private organization and lease it back if an agreement is reached with a private company to develop a sports complex.

Warren County supervisors have not spread either version on the county board’s minutes.

The resolutions come one week after a Jan. 26 meeting of the city’s feasibility and finance committee on the sports complex. The committee includes Mayor George Flaggs Jr. , City Attorney Nancy Thomas, city Accounting Director Doug Whittington, City Clerk Walter Osborne, Warren County Supervisors Bill Lauderdale and John Arnold, and county administrator John Smith.

According to projections by the city’s accounting office, a countywide food and beverage and lodging levy would average from $1.137 million to $2.27 million a year based on a tax of from 1 to 2 percent. Using the 1 to 2 percent values, a citywide tax would raise from $1.11million to about $2.23 million.

People who eat in local restaurants and stay in hotels in Warren County already pay an additional 1 percent sales tax, which supports the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Hotels in the city charge an additional 2 percent tax on hotel stays to support the Vicksburg Convention Center.

If approved, the additional tax, depending on the levy, would raise the tax on food by an additional 2 to 3 cents and 3 to 4 cents per night on hotel rooms.

The resolutions were passed despite the lack of a site or plans for the proposed complex.

“We’re just trying to get our foot in the door,” Thomas said. “The deadline (for local and private bills), I believe, is in March. We wanted to go in and get in there, in case they (local legislators) have any questions.”

“I just want it clarified that we’re just going through the process,” South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said, “we’re just asking their permission. We’re not committing to anything right now.”

“If you don’t get their permission, you’re not going to have anything, because we don’t have permission to tax,” Flaggs said. “All this is, is to make certain we meet deadline requirements for the introduction of bills. We really need to meet with our local delegation and tell them we’re trying to get ahead of the curve so the deadlines don’t lapse on us.”

At a Jan. 26 meeting Flaggs said city officials could modify and amend the bill in the future, depending on the situation with the complex.

“You would have legislation with a number on it,” he said. “We can modify it as we go.”

At the same meeting, the committee also discussed the possibility of a public-private partnership to build the complex. Flaggs said at the time discussions were underway with a private party, but would not identify the party.

Friday, city and county officials toured the city’s Fisher Ferry property on Fisher Ferry Road, which was bought in 2003 by the Leyens administration as a site for a sports complex initially named Champion Hill.

“You have to go out there just to appreciate what we really have there,” Thompson said. “We have 200 acres of flat land, graded, ready to go. When you see it, you see it has a lot of potential. I believe that property has some recreational value. We’re in the design phase to see what we can do out there and what benefit can we bring to the majority of the citizens of Vicksburg.”

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, who co-chairs the city’s site selection committee for the sports complex with Thompson, said he was impressed with the visit to the Fisher Ferry site.

“I think that was my third time going out to the Fisher Ferry site,” he said. “I was never out there when the grass wasn’t 5, 6 feet tall and all I could see the times I went out there were deer and everything in between as for somebody might want to hunt.”

This visit, he said, “everything was smoothed out. We still have some drainage problems we have to correct out there.” Also, he said, there are problems with access, adding if the city can get access from U.S. 61, “that would be the key to making that work. I feel better about the overall property now than I did.”

Mayfield, however, said his impressions about Fisher Ferry did not mean he believed it was the best site for a sports complex. He said there are two or three other possible sites to be examined. Although Fisher Ferry had more flat land than he thought, he was not sure if it would fit the needs of a complex.

Thompson said Fisher Ferry is his top choice for sports complex, adding, “we own it, it’s graded and ready to go. We’re waiting on the reports about access from 61 South.”

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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