State revenue is down by $53 million from projections for the first four months of the fiscal year, but two local projects which are relying on more state funding should be able to move forward as planned.
Last year, the state allocated $1.2 million for a proposed horse park/agricultural center in the county that was estimated to costs $2.5 million to complete. The legislature also provided $2.25 million for a $25 million amphitheater/Riverwalk extension.
So, even as both projects wait for the legislature to provide more funding, neither should have to put their plans on hold, said Rep. Jeff Smith on Thursday.
“Believe it or not, those projects shouldn’t be affected by the revenue situation,” Smith said. “The money for both of those projects come from our bonding money, not the general fund.”
Smith, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he will present proposals for a combined $7 million for those two projects.
“In reality, the outlook is pretty good as far as the bond package goes,” Smith said. “The bond rates are lower than they were last year and we plan to put together a pretty aggressive bond package this year.”
Bond appropriations are typically voted on late in the session, usually in late March or early April.
Smith said he will ask for $5 million for the Riverwalk/amphitheater project and $2 million for the horse park/ agricultural center.
“I would expect we could get at least the $2.25 million we got last year, if not the full $5 million for the Riverwalk,” Smith said. “I’m hoping to get $2 million for the horse park.”
Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders said the work on the horse park will continue as scheduled as they await word of additional funding.
“Right now, we are waiting on a MOU (memorandum of understanding) that gives us access to the $1.2 million we got from the legislature last year,” Sanders side. “The engineers have done all of the environmental studies and, hopefully,we’ll start building in a few months. The way we planned it was to build the office building first, so we can do that without waiting for additional funds. We have the money for that already.”
The facility will be built on a 21-acre site located off of Old Highway 82 and Tom Rose Road, just west of the Tombigbee River. The land was donated to the county by Jimmy Graham of Grayco Co., and Al Puckett of Brickyard Properties.
The plans for the facility include a 5,000 square-foot office complex, which would be home to the extension service and local 4H chapter.
“We wanted to build that first so there would be someone out there every day to keep an eye on things,” Sanders said.
The larger part of the project, which would require extra funding from the legislature, is the construction of a covered pavilion/arena roughly the size of a football field which could be used for a variety of purposes, including livestock shows, 4-H programs and other agricultural-related events.
The Riverwalk project includes the building of the Terry Brown Amphitheater and a 14-mile pathway extension to Columbus Air Force Base Project engineer Kevin Stafford of Neal-Schaffer Engineering said Thursday that the $2.25 million appropriated last year was dedicated toward developing a master plan for the entire project and starting work on the amphitheater.
“Right now, we have about $1.7 million available to go toward the amphitheater,” Stafford said. “The plans call for $3 million to complete that, so as of now we’re short of what would be needed to finish the project.”
Even so, Stafford said work on the amphitheater won’t be delayed. “We are advertising bids this month and will open the bids on Feb. 24,” Stafford said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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