The Board of Mayor and Aldermen is seeking help to market the proposed sports complex to the public.
The board wants to hire a professional firm to market the complex and educate city residents about the plans to build the complex on the city’s Fisher Ferry property and the proposed 2 percent tax on hotel rooms and food and beverage sales to fund it. The tax referendum is expected to be included in the June 6 municipal general election.
The city must have the paperwork on the sales tax ready by late April or early May to be on the June ballot.
South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said the purpose of hiring an outside firm is to better educate the public on the project and the plan to fund it.
“We want to see what it would cost to go that route, and if it’s feasible,” he said. “I would like to see what someone can do. We just need to make sure the people understand what we’re doing and to show them how this would benefit the community.”
North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said hiring a professional marketing firm would help the city.
“If you’re going to take on a project such as this, you need to make sure every stone is unturned in the beginning,” he said. “You don’t want to get started on a project and find out that something is undone.
“We want somebody out there that is really putting together the whole nine yards of this project in the open so everybody can see it and get a chance to form their own opinion, and if someone wants to give you suggestions, that’s all encompassed in this marketing. Sometimes, you’ve got to turn it over to professionals.”
The Sports Force, a Georgia-based sports consulting firm, on Jan. 9 presented a report outlining the feasibility of developing the Fisher Ferry property as a sports complex. It presented a plan for a 75-acre complex costing between $14 and $19 million utilizing multiuse fields that can accommodate several sports as well as a championship level baseball/softball field and soccer pitch.
A special state law allows the city to levy up to a 2 percent sales tax on hotel rooms and food and beverage sales in the city to fund the project with the approval of the voters.
The city already levies a 2 percent sales tax on hotel rooms to help fund the Vicksburg Convention Center, and the county has a special 1 percent sales state on hotel rooms and food and beverage sales to fund the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The special bill allowing the tax restricts the city to levying sales tax only up to 3 percent.