Pearl River County’s Board of Supervisors moved forward with committing approximately $21,000 annually to fund Tax Increment Financing Bonds for the College Square Shopping Center.

The Board approved executing the tax pledge and security agreement related to the TIF Bond during Wednesday’s meeting.

The funds will reimburse the developer for construction of the College Square Shopping Center in relation to public infrastructure, like parking, water and sewer improvements.

The county pledged 50 percent of the new property ad valorem taxes generated in the TIF District, which County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said will be approximately $21,000 annually for the next 10 years. The city of Poplarville has also pledged tax revenue to fund the TIF Bond, all of its increased ad valorem taxes generated in the TIF District and 50 percent of the sales tax generated in the district.

The county originally owned the property that the shopping center was built on and sold it for $200,000 to the shopping center developers, said District II Supervisor Malcolm Perry. The county and city entered an interlocal agreement in 2017 establishing the TIF District. Poplarville’s Board of Aldermen approved issuing the TIF bonds earlier this year.

Perry said he believed if the county and city had not approved the TIF District, the new shopping center would not have been built.

In a separate matter, the Board authorized a resolution acknowledging $200,000 secured by the Legislature for renovations on the county courthouse. With the County Courthouse Annex complete, the county is renovating the historic courthouse. Many of the county offices that were in other buildings were able to relocate to spots inside the Courthouse Annex or the historic courthouse. Some offices moved from the old courthouse to the new annex.

Renovation plans include giving the Circuit Clerk’s staff more space. The plans to shuffle office locations also include using some rooms on the second floor of the courthouse as meeting rooms for attorneys and clients instead of as offices for county departments.

The Board is also considering building an additional building to house payroll and the county administrator’s office. The proposed additional building would be 3,086 square feet and would include an extra office for auditors and storage. The county administrator’s current office is in a separate building owned by the county. Earlier plans were to move the office into the historic courthouse.

In other business the Board:

—Acknowledged Oct. 10 as Household Hazardous Material Drop Off Day. Materials will be able to be dropped off at the Pearl River County Road Department office beginning at 8 a.m. on Oct. 10 and will be accepted until the grant funds run out.