If leaders in the capital city have their way, the state will help pay for improvements at Smith Park.
The Jackson City Council was expected to pass its 2018 legislative agenda earlier this week.
Among highlights, the agenda includes asking the state for $2.5 million for continued improvements at Smith Park, reauthorizing the tax that funds Visit Jackson, and reinstating the law that allows for community improvement districts (CID).
The agenda was drawn up recently, after the council and other city leaders met with state lawmakers.
Officials had hoped to ask the Legislature to repeal the sunset provision for the one-percent infrastructure sales tax, but lawmakers and one-percent commissioners said it was too early to make the request.
A sunset provision is basically the set date for a bill or a law to expire. Provisions in the legislation allowing the one-percent tax, for instance, require that the tax expire 20 years after its implementation.
The assessment was implemented in 2014 and will expire in 2034, according to city officials.
Mayor Chokwe Lumumba asked the one-percent oversight commission if they would support repealing this clause, but also cautioned that it was too early to approach lawmakers with the request.
The mayor said removing the clause would give the city more options in terms of using one-percent dollars as leverage for long-term debt.
“This would change the dynamic,” he said.
Commissioners had mixed feelings about the repeal. Commission member Pete Perry said he would support extending, not repealing the sunset provision, but wanted to know more about borrowing. Perry also questioned whether extending or repealing the clause would require a ballot referendum.
Before the initial tax could be implemented, the city had to hold a ballot referendum, which had to be approved by 60 percent of voters.
Commissioner Jonathan Lee supports removing the provision, but also had questions about Jackson’s leveraging plans.
However, most commissioners agreed 2018 would be the wrong time to approach lawmakers.
“They don’t look at something they (implemented) two or three years ago,” Perry said.
The Legislature approved allowing Jackson to have the local option tax in 2008. However, the city refused to implement the measure until years later.
No leveraging plans had been decided at press time.
While some city leaders believe it’s the wrong time to ask about the one-percent tax, it’s the right time to ask for help with Smith Park.
The city will be requesting $2.5 million for another round of improvements at the downtown green space. The funds will be used for everything from building a new stage and installing a new high-tech sound system, improving park irrigation, adding splash pads for children, as well as new restrooms and walking trails.
Construction is about halfway finished on the second phase, which includes removing the water feature running along the park’s Amite Street border. The feature was installed in the 1970s and was designed to look like a winding river. However, the structure has been inoperable for years.
The $100,000 project got under way in November and is expected to wrap up in late January, weather pending, said Downtown Jackson Partners (DJP) President Ben Allen.
The city sought funding for the third phase in 2015 and 2016, but the allocation was cut out of the state’s annual bond bills at the last minute.
District 29 Sen. David Blount supports the proposal and believes that the recent local investments could spur lawmakers to act.
“The public and private investments do help our case,” he said. “I think if we can show a partnership between the private sector, the city and the state, we can make the (park) into a jewel.”
Jackson also wants the state to reauthorize the funding mechanism for Visit Jackson, the former Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as the law allowing CIDs.
Visit Jackson is funded by a special one-percent sales tax on hotels, motels and restaurants across the city. The assessment generates between $3.2 million and $3.5 million a year, and is used to help market and promote the city and its events, according to Visit Jackson President and CEO Wanda Collier-Wilson.
“Our product is the city of Jackson – its attractions, its hotels, restaurants, museums, (and) events that are held here,” she said.
While one bill would help Jackson better market itself, another measure supported by the city would give neighborhoods another tool to improve quality of life.
The city again is supporting CIDs. The districts would allow homeowners groups to tax themselves and use the funds for beautification, security and other improvements.
Sixty percent of home or property owners in the affected area would have to sign on before the tax would go into effect.
A previous law allowing CIDs was passed in 1998, but sunset without any districts being set up.
The council approved a resolution in support of the measure recently, at the urging of Ward Seven Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay and Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks.
“This would … empower neighborhoods to assess themselves to … really improve their overall communities,” she said.
