Supervisors shelve additional money
for Arts Center
By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
November 2, 2004
Lauderdale County supervisors on Monday put the brakes on a proposal that would have given $50,000 to help fund the fledgling Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center.
Supervisors had included the money in the budget for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1. But they shelved the proposal because a financial report on the center was not available Monday.
Frank Farley, treasurer for the board of directors of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center, said later Monday that supervisors requested the report last week. He said it was not yet ready.
Farley said that an audit by the accounting firm of Rae Shaw Giffin &Stuart is expected to be completed this month. The center's board of directors operates as a nonprofit organization.
Boswell's concerns
District 5 Supervisor Ray Boswell said during the supervisors' regular meeting that the county gave the center $100,000 during the last fiscal year to help hire a director whose duties include fund-raising.
Boswell told supervisors he couldn't vote for the $50,000 "until somebody shows me that somebody is doing something to raise funds because this is not your money that you're giving away. It belongs to the taxpayers of this county."
District 1 Supervisor Eddie Harper, who made the motion to give the money to the center, said it was budgeted at a time when supervisors didn't have a financial report on the project.
Financial support
Harper said the $100,000 supervisors gave to the center last year was used, along with other donations, to put together a plan and hire a director. The additional $50,000, he said, would be used to "sell that plan."
District 2 Supervisor Jimmie Smith said he wanted to see a financial report from the center by Monday's meeting. But because supervisors didn't have it, he suggested the action be taken under advisement.
District 4 Supervisor Joe Norwood said he requested the report and also expected supervisors to have it by Monday. He apologized that the information was not available.
Washington, D.C., was announced as the lead agent in developing the center.
