NATCHEZ — Recreation funding for a new complex in Natchez might hang in the balance of the state attorney general’s legal opinion.

Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission member Ray Brown asked the school board for their $11,000 piece of the county-city-school board funding pie at Thursday’s board meeting.

Brown was appointed to the commission by the school board and serves as the district’s security supervisor.

Before the board had a chance to discuss if the cash-strapped school district would hand over its contribution, the board’s attorney gave his recommendation.

School board attorney Bruce Kuehnle said he has looked into the legality of the school board giving funds to a project outside of school property.

“I really have spent good bit of time looking at this and gone back and forth on it,” Kuehnle said.

He said a legal statue clearly states the school district cannot spend funds in areas outside its schools, but the district is also authorized to provide for and regulate athletic programs and activities.

Kuehnle said if the board votes to fork over the money with the attorney general’s opinion on their side, the board is protected from the state if an auditor disagrees with the attorney general.

Without the official opinion of the attorney general, the school board members could be held personally accountable for the $11,000 if an auditor thought the contribution was made illegally.

“If I’m wrong, you would have to pay out of pocket. But the attorney general’s opinion will protect you from (the government) asking for that money back,” Kuehnle said.

At the attorney’s recommendation, the board voted unanimously to seek the opinion of the attorney general on the legality of contributing to recreation before making the decision.

Brown distributed a letter written by recreation commission chairman Tate Hobdy to the school board and board attorney offering suggestions for which NASD funds could be spent on school property.

“It is not a problem for us to designate your contribution to the planning of features only on school property,” Hobdy said in the letter.

The items included renovation of the softball complex, development of an aquatics facility, development of soccer fields and traffic flow development and improvements.

The board attorney said he had not seen the letter until Tuesday’s meeting, but would still like reassurance from the attorney general on the matter.

Adams County District 2 Supervisor Henry Watts questioned the legality of the school district contributing money to property not owned by the district at a Sept. 21 board of supervisors meeting.

In November 2009, 80 percent of Adams County residents voted to support a combined city-county-school system operated recreation complex. The recreation commission, which was established in response to the poll, has asked for $11,000 from each entity’s 2011 budgets to fund the planning and development of a recreation facility to be located near Natchez High School.

The county voted Oct. 4 to fund its portion to the commission. The city is exploring the option of funding its contribution with grant money.

In other business:

The board narrowly passed a motion to change the salary scale for coordinators and assistant principals to reflect an increase in pay for those with a masters degree.

Board members Dr. Benny Wright, Thelma Newsome and Harold Barnett voted for the motion. Board member Dale Steckler voted against changing the pay scale and board member David Troutman abstained from voting.

“I’m not against (issuing) raises if we have the money to do so, but we’re borrowing money from our 16 section funds,” Steckler said.

Debbie Hudson addressed the school board on behalf of the Natchez Chamber of Commerce Education Committee about the groups’ plans and objectives.

Hudson said the committee is composed of administrators from every public and private school in Natchez serving ages pre-kindergarten to college.

In January, the committee is planning a bus tour of public schools, and she said she would like the school board to attend. City and county leaders will also be invited to attend the tour.

Hudson said some leaders have never visited some of the public schools, and the bus tour would give them the opportunity to do so.

The tour would stop at the local campuses of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez High School, Robert Lewis Middle School and one of the NASD elementary schools.

Athletic Director Fred Butcher recommended the board allow Natchez High to abstain from participating in both the boys and girls soccer programs this year.

Butcher said he has been unsuccessful in hiring coaches for the soccer teams and would rather suspend the program for a year. He said it is worth it to him to wait on a quality person to build up the soccer program with a coach the students can respect.

The board voted unanimously to suspend the soccer programs at Natchez High this year if an acceptable soccer coach is not hired in one week. Troutman strongly encouraged Butcher to try hiring a coach by the end of next week.