A senate bill was provided to The Yazoo Herald by the city clerk’s office that states what both the city and county boards must to do to provide funding to parks and recreation.
Funding for the Parks and Recreation Commission was brought before both the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Yazoo County Supervisors with its recent budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Parks and Recreation Commission is requesting $117,000 from both boards to cover its growing expenses and projects.
However, Mayor Diane Delaware said the city would only match the county’s contribution “dollar for dollar,” based on millage. She said the match would level the playing field with an equal proportion of funds from both boards.
Following Delaware’s statement, Supervisor Willie Wright said he wanted to remind the city council of the legal wording behind the partnership on “shall versus may.”
“It says that the city shall put it what they do,” Wright said, in a recent board meeting. “It says the county may…We don’t have to give like the city is supposed to give. Remind them that we may…”
But Alisha Dixon, deputy city clerk for the city of Yazoo City, provided The Yazoo Herald with Senate Bill 3310 and Senate Bill 3031 for the exact wording from legislation regarding payments to the Parks and Recreation Commission. The bill states that both partners “shall” contribute funding annually.
The bills said both the city and county shall “pay annually to the commission such funds as may be deemed necessary to properly operate and maintain recreational facilities and recreation programs.”
The bill continues to state that the city is to “levy and collect not to exceed four mills annually, and the board of supervisors of said county is hereby authorized to levy and collect not to exceed two mills…”
