Features
Gulf Coast Coliseum Update
Legislation pending in the Mississippi House would transfer the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and its $7 million trust fund to the control of Harrison County.
Photo: facebook.com/MississippiCoastColiseum
WLOX-TV reports it’s a multimillion-dollar compromise that could end nearly 40 years of the coliseum being run as a state agency.
Currently, Mississippi governors choose half of the members of the Coliseum Commission.
Under House Bill 848, all appointments will be local: five from Harrison County and one each from the cities of Gulfport and Biloxi. The commission now gets the interest earned from the $7 million trust fund, which is running about $180,000 a year. Those involved anticipate local control improving the odds of getting approval to access that money and build a much-talked-about host hotel next to the grounds.