CORINTH, Miss. (WTVA) -- Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Kristy White has just made a difficult decision.
She is going to resign.
All this comes at a time when the tourism budget's bottom line has her very concerned.
The tourism budget for the Visitors Center has been cut from $580,000 to $330,000.
"I think it will be a large challenge, especially to have the parameters set already and try to figure out what the best way to spend that money would be. I'm afraid the outreach is not gonna be quite as large as it was with a larger budget," White said.
This fall, a supercommittee made up of the Corinth Board of Aldermen and the Alcorn County Board of Supervisors diverted 45 percent of the budget to the Crossroads Arena, a facility which has been without a director for a year.
Left with less money and strict instructions about how not to spend it was the city's Tourism Council.
That's where the dispute comes in — one which led to the removal of all Tourism Council members this week.
"We asked them to put certain things in the budget. They did not do that, and we set the budget for them. And at that time, it becomes law, and you've got to follow what was set for them, and they did not do that," Corinth Mayor Tommy Irwin said.
"The way the board was running, it would soon run out of money because the way they were handling budgets, so we addressed that with them. They chose not to change the budget, so that's why we moved forward," Alderman Chip Wood said.
White said the board felt some of the line items were not fair, including the salary cuts.
The Tourism Council told her to continue to meet financial obligations, which included salaries and advertising contracts, as long as they stayed within the budget.
That decision is believed to have led to the removal of Tourism Council members.
Replacements are expected to be announced.
Some previous Tourism Council members may be asked to return.
The Corinth Board of Aldermen is expected to meet 4 p.m. Friday to reveal Tourism Board replacements.
