The Natchez Mayor and Board of Alderman appear to have again sold the city on the cheap.

For the less-than-princely sum of $50,000, the board voted Tuesday to extend casino developer Natchez Enterprises’ contract for three months and gave it the option of three more months for another $50,000.

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, after an impassioned speech about having voted against this developer four years ago, said she tried to get more than $50,000 for the current extension, “but that is all I could get.” She then moved approval of the extension, and, with Aldermen Rickey Gray and Dan Dillard dissenting, the board voted for it.

As I watched the discussion unfold, the question I couldn’t get beyond was, “Why?”  Why could you only get $100,000 for six months of extension after nearly four years of shilly-shallying by the developer? Once again, our city officials appear to be supplicants in an important development deal, not an equal negotiating party. With this project limping to the finish — I mean starting — line, why not draw a line in the sand and say, “If you’re not willing to put up $250,000 (or whatever amount seems right), then fine. We’ll call it a day.” Instead, our side appears scared to death of losing the deal.

If the developers are confident in their secret financiers and in their ability to get a gaming license, why wouldn’t they put up more money? After all, if and when they actually open the casino, that earnest money would be deducted from the lease payments. In other words, it’s not even real money if they do what they say they’ll do.

Mayor Jake Middleton points out that the woods are not full of casino developers these days. But is that reason enough to cling to this developer’s leg like a used-car salesman desperate to unload a clunker?  There are other options for Roth Hill, not the least being the recently proposed Smith-Brown park plan.

At this point, it’s wait-and-see for six more months. If the developer doesn’t come through by then, it really will be — really this time, honest, sincerely — time to bring this saga to an end.

Bill Furlow

Natchez resident