Madison County is betting $48 million in urban renewal bonds on a conference center that does not yet exist. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Monday to authorize the financing for a 1,800-person venue near the intersection of Sunnybrook Road and Colony Park Boulevard in Ridgeland. One supervisor was absent.

The project pairs the publicly financed conference center with a privately funded 250-room resort hotel. Gabriel Prado, CEO of Pracon Global Investment Group, is the developer behind the hotel. He says the combined $120 million investment will generate $250 million in economic impact across the county.

Supervisor Casey Brannon cast the lone dissenting vote. He argued the county should not be in the business of financing private development with public debt. “I just don’t think that taxpayers need to be footing the bill for this,” Brannon said, according to WLBT. “We could spend $48 million lighting more roads or fixing more roads, not building a building that we will eventually turn over to a private citizen.”

Brannon also warned about the long-term budget impact. “We are going to be using this money to pay a debt service for the next 15 to 20 years,” he said. “And that will take money off the table for us to be able to lower their taxes.”

Board President Gerald Steen disagreed, saying the county has zero direct investment in the project. “This conference center is something that Madison County has needed for a while, and this is a way that we can make it happen in a positive way,” Steen said.

The financing structure relies on three layers of revenue: conference center operating income, a state tourism tax rebate, and a property levy on the hotel itself. Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee said the tourism rebate is based on tax revenue that does not exist yet because the project has not been built. Prado has agreed to direct roughly $18.9 million of those rebate proceeds to the county to accelerate debt repayment.

McGee acknowledged the risk but said the structure minimizes it. If conference center revenues fall short, the county can place a first lien tax levy on the hotel property. “Madison County has an additional level of protection,” McGee said.

The conference center has been discussed for two decades. Prado credited Jan Collins, executive director of the Madison County Business League and Foundation, with first proposing the idea 20 years ago. “Many developers have come behind trying to do it until we finally were able to put this structure in place that it works,” Prado said.

When the public hearing opened Monday, not a single resident stood up to speak for or against the plan. One person in the room asked what the discussion was about. A board member noted that not everyone present knew what was being considered.

The City of Ridgeland voted unanimously in March to support the urban renewal plan. The county’s Planning and Zoning Department approved the project in February, finding it consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan.

The board also passed a second resolution Monday to begin assembling a financing package. Prado said he expects to return to the full board in 60 to 90 days to finalize the bond financing.

The question Brannon raised about who bears the risk if the conference center does not generate enough revenue is not new in Mississippi. In 2019, the city of Jackson approved $15 million in bonds for the King Edward Hotel redevelopment, a project that required multiple restructurings. Madison County’s $48 million bet is more than three times that amount, and the county has never operated a conference center before.