Biloxi council debates splitting MIMA funds into ward accounts, asks city attorney and budget committee to study options

Biloxi City Council members met in a special workshop on Feb. 3 to discuss whether to create separate project accounts for each of the city’s seven wards to distribute Mississippi Modernization Act (MIMA) funds, roughly $2.2 million on hand. The council took no final action and asked the city attorney to report back on legal structures and asked the budget committee to draft a framework for a future workshop.

The meeting began with the clerk reading the workshop purpose: to examine creation of project accounts for each ward, distribution of funding and spending rules under the Mississippi Modernization Act. Council members repeatedly raised two core tensions: (1) whether splitting funds equally by ward would be fair, and (2) whether creating per‑ward accounts would legally or financially restrict the city’s fund balance and…