A bill to help Vicksburg fund a proposed sports complex is on its last legs in the Mississippi Legislature, but it’s not quite dead yet.

There’s a slim chance a deal will be brokered granting the Vicksburg and Warren County authority to levy a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants. Without such an agreement, the idea of building a sportsplex reverts to another pie in the sky dream.

“We cannot afford to spend taxpayers’ money on an idea, and unless I get the blessing of the Legislature and it gives me the authority to go ahead, the sports complex is dead for the next two years,” Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “I’m not going to continue chasing the rabbit that’s got the gun.”

The only other option is private funding, which essentially puts a private company in the driver’s seat for the proposed recreation center.

Yet, our local legislators are hard at work attempting to breath life back into the sports complex.

State Sen. Briggs Hopson III said he is working with Local and Private Committee Chair Perry Lee, R-Mendenhall “to see what see what arrangement can be worked out.”

Lee, however, expressed concern over the bill, which is a bad sign but doesn’t mean certain death for the sportsplex.

State Rep. Alex Monsour has co-authored House Bill 1655 with Reps. Oscar Denton and Deborah Butler Dixon. The bill is essentially the mirror image of the Senate proposal.

As we’ve said before cities larger and smaller than our own have modern sports complexes that attract tournaments on a weekly basis. Lee’s home — Simpson County — has a state of the art sportsplex that opened just a few years ago in Magee that brings thousands of people a year to the tiny town.

Keep in contact with our legislators and with Lee and let them know Vicksburg and Warren County want a sportsplex. Lee is available at 601-359-3244 or at 601-847-1178. Hopson’s office number is 601-359-3237. Denton’s number listed on the legislative website is 601-638-4007 and Monsour lists 601-359-9382 and 601-415-7274.

Let them know this is what our community and our children deserve and thank them for their work in bringing it to us.