As Chairman of the Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau, I am taking this opportunity to clarify misunderstandings on the part of some of our citizens concerning the purpose of and the operations of the CVB.
The Yazoo County Convention & Visitors Bureau was created in 1992 by the Mississippi Legislature at the request of the Board of Supervisors. It was reauthorized by the Legislature in 1998 when the decision to continue it or not was placed on the 1998 ballot, and the majority of those voting in the county that year voted to keep the tax in place and keep the operations of the CVB going.
The Yazoo County CVB is funded by a 2% tax on restaurants (or anyone selling prepared foods such as convenience stores) and on hotels.
The amount received now by the CVB is almost $500,000 a year. The law allows the Board of Supervisors to allot “not more than $45,000 a year” to the Parks and Recreations Commission. Supervisors could choose to allot a smaller amount. The thinking at the time was that well maintained ballfields would bring various baseball/softball/soccer tournaments to Yazoo. This would bring more visitors to the county and increased revenues to county businesses along with increased sales tax revenue for the city and county. This has proven to be true for many areas of the state.
The law clearly states that the revenues received by the CVB are “for the purpose of providing funds for the promotion of tourism and conventions”. The original By-Laws of the CVB written in 1992 stated that the Bureau “is established to promote and develop tourism and conventions within Yazoo County”. Our Mission Statement says that the CVB “is to expend funds to bring increased visitor traffic” to Yazoo County.
We receive many requests each year by various individuals and groups/organizations for funding for different projects. We are required by law, by our By-Laws and by our Mission Statement to consider these requests individually to see that they meet the goal of increasing tourism/visitor traffic to the County. Some funding requests do not meet the criteria, and we have to turn them down. That results in hard feelings by some, charges of not being treated fairly by some and occasional threats by some.
We regret that some in the County either do not understand the law under which we operate or do not really care what the law says. However, we are determined to abide by the law in spending the tax dollars entrusted to us as the Board.
Johnny Crow, Chairman
Yazoo County Convention
& Visitors Bureau
