Seeking to expand its convention center footprint are officials in Natchez, Miss.
Convention Center Director Walter Tipton is pushing a $3 million expansion, which would be financed by a 1 percent increase in the local lodging tax, coupled with a half percent increase in the local restaurant tax.
Any tax increase requires state legislative approval. An official proposal would be readied in time for the next legislative session, according to Natchez Mayor Butch Brown.
Expansion plans were already on the horizon when the 32,000 square-foot center was originally built in 2000.
Meanwhile, both the city and convention center officials have been working on restructuring the debt owed on the facility.
The restructured bond would be set up similar to a house note, Tipton said, so that each payment would reduce the principal amount of the debt.
