Harrison County leaders begin process to issue $5.7 million TIF bonds for Bucky’s site

Harrison County officials on a recent agenda reviewed six months of sales-tax receipts from a new Bucky's development and moved to start the process of issuing tax-increment financing (TIF) bonds tied to those sales taxes.

Speaker 1 told the board, "We've received six months worth of sales tax revenue generated by the state" and that the county rebate for that six-month period was "500,000," which Speaker 1 said annualizes to about $1 million. The discussion centered on whether that level of revenue is sustainable and sufficient to support a TIF bond capped at $5.7 million.

Why it matters: County staff said the proposed bonds would be structured as revenue bonds, not county general-obligation debt, and would use incremental sales-tax receipts from the development to pay debt service. "It's not a general obligation to county," Speaker 1 said. "It's a formal revenue bond where the debt service is paid through 100% of the sales tax." Officials also discussed pledging "50% of incremental increase" of county tax receipts in the financing structure.

Officials raised the risk that if incremental revenues fall short, bondholders would not receive full debt-service payments but — as described in the meeting — that outcome would not automatically trigger a default under the bond terms. Speaker 3 explained investors assume that risk and pricing will reflect it.

Board action and next steps: Speaker 4 asked the board to authorize an agreement with municipal advisors identified in the meeting as "Mississippi, Inc." to handle the bond issuance process. Speaker 2 said, "I'm prepared to make that motion," and the motion was seconded; the chair then asked "All those in favor." The transcript does not record a vote tally. After the motion, the board moved into an executive session to continue follow-up.

Officials said additional due diligence is required before issuing bonds: they plan to confirm exact pledge percentages, obtain detailed cost estimates from the developer about what may be reimbursable, and meet with the state Department of Revenue to confirm how the state will treat the incremental sales-tax receipts.

What was not resolved: The transcript does not record a recorded roll-call or vote tally, the exact identity of the motion seconder is not specified in the record provided, and precise contractual commitments from the developer regarding reimbursable costs were not yet available. Officials repeatedly said more detailed financial sizing and verification with the Department of Revenue are required before final bond sizing and issuance.

The board's next procedural steps are to receive more detailed numbers from staff, confirm DOR's guidance, complete sizing of the TIF bond up to the $5.7 million cap and return to the board with formal documents if the county proceeds.