NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson said city officials are developing strategies to come up with more money for a variety of improvements for streets, the Natchez Convention Center and other city buildings without ballooning the budget or increasing taxes.
While more details are coming later, Gibson said Tuesday the city is close to paying off the bond loan used to construct the convention center, which opened in 2002 costing about $10 million to build. He said city officials have come up with about $600,000 to go toward retiring the debt, which the mayor said is now less than $3 million.
Once that debt is paid, funds will be freed up to borrow more money to upgrade the facility along with City Auditorium, Gibson said.
“We’re losing business because the convention center is antiquated,” said the mayor, pointing to pealing walls, a deficient sound system and other conditions that make it unappealing for conventioneers.
Tourism sales taxes imposed on hotel and restaurant patrons generate revenues for paying the convention center debts.
Gibson also noted the state is providing cities a larger share of state sales tax revenues for infrastructure, which the mayor said could include streets, fire stations and the bluff area.
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Magnolia Bluffs Casino (from Visit Natchez website)
The mayor and aldermen met with executives of the New York casino company planning to buy Magnolia Bluffs Casino, which occupies city-owned land.
The Mississippi Gaming Commission is currently reviewing Saratoga Casino Holdings to decide whether to give the company the license required to operate the Natchez casino. That review could be completed by September.
“We’re extremely anxious to get through this process,” said Saratoga Chief Executive Officer Alex Tucker. “We’ve been really impressed by what we’ve seen in this city.”
Saratoga and Magnolia Bluffs’ owners announced in April their deal for the Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based company to acquire the casino, which leases from Natchez the land it sits on by the Mississippi River at the end of Roth Hill Road.
Magnolia Bluffs Casino opened in December 2012, and in 2015 purchased its 140-room hotel nearby on Canal Street. The casino employs about 170 people plus about 30 at the hotel, according to the latest data from the Mississippi Gaming Commission, which keeps up with Mississippi casinos’ financial and personnel records.
While Magnolia Bluffs has reduced its number of casino-hotel employees in recent years – it had nearly 280 workers in 2017 – Tucker expressed optimism about Magnolia Bluffs’ capacity to grow.
He noted the casino relies largely on area gamblers and not “resort” visitors. “We depend on the people who live here to keep the casino going,” Tucker said.
The city has been leasing to Magnolia Bluffs the land it occupies for at least $1 million a year with additional funds tied to the amount of casino revenues. That money has been essential for basic municipal operations and for special projects, such as repaving city streets.
Tucker and other Sarasota representatives gave an overview of their plans in an open board meeting, but aldermen closed the public out of their discussions about the terms of transferring the city land lease from Magnolia Bluffs’ current owner to Sarasota.
A group led by Kevin Preston currently owns the casino and has been a prominent supporter of the Natchez community, which Sarasota plans to continue. “If the community is strong, the casino is strong,” Tucker said.
Sarasota Casino Holdings – which is a family-owned corporation – has casinos and racehorse tracks in New York, Kentucky, Maryland and Colorado.
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