by Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today
October 13, 2024

The Mississippi Braves’ minor league baseball era in metro Jackson ended last month after the Atlanta Braves pulled its double-A affiliate out of Pearl after 20 years.

A little-known state House member from rural northeast Mississippi played a key role in launching the era back in 2004.

In 2000, state Rep. Ricky Cummings, a Democrat from Iuka, was the sole author of legislation designed to provide a sales tax rebate for tourism-related projects.

The legislation, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, reimbursed to the developers of tourism-related projects a percentage of the sales tax collected at the tourism attraction. It was unusual for a lawmaker beginning his second term to pass such an impactful bill.

Cummings’ legislation was his effort to help his beloved Tishomingo County in the northeast corner of the state. He was convinced the rural county in the foothills of Appalachia was the ideal spot for some form of tourist attraction, such as an amusement park or water park.

Cummings hoped his bill would jumpstart that effort.

But the program did not attract the major tourist-related project that Cummings had sought for his district.

The legislation, though, did help entice at least one significant tourism-related project to the state: the Mississippi Braves. Trustmark Park in Pearl, where the Braves played, and adjacent Bass Pro Shop received a sales tax rebate of $18.9 million.

During a press conference on the steps of the state Capitol in 2004, officials with the Atlanta Braves, flanked by Gov. Haley Barbour, cited the rebate program as one of the primary reasons they opted to place their minor league team in Pearl.

The Braves announced earlier this year that 2024 would be their last at Trustmark Park, opting to move their AA team to Columbus, Georgia, closer to the major league team.

Cummings, age 70, who served in the House until 2008 and is now a retired contractor, expressed disappointment that the Braves opted to leave Mississippi. But Trustmark Park is a concrete example of Cummings’ sales tax rebate program and will continue to be used by Pearl officials.

Cummings’ real disappointment, though, is that his vision for a major tourism destination for Tishomingo County never materialized.

Many might view Cummings’ vision as a pipe dream for such a rural area of the state, but there is some logic to his dream.

Tishomingo is located relatively close to major population centers of Memphis, Birmingham and Huntsville. Tishomingo is the home to a pair of picturesque and appealing state parks, Tishomingo and J.P. Coleman. There is Pickwick Lake, a confluence of the Tennessee River and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway that boasts that aforementioned scenic beauty and water sports.

In 2000, Tishomingo County was reeling economically. It routinely had the state’s highest unemployment rate.

Yellow Creek in Tishomingo County was at one point supposed to be the home of a massive TVA nuclear power plant that was later mothballed. Then, the land and infrastructure, including buildings, that were built for the nuclear power plant was selected to be the site of a new advanced rocket motor plant for NASA.

But at the last minute, after millions had been spent on the NASA rocket motor plant just as millions had been spent on the nuclear power plant, the project was scrapped, leaving the county’s economy in shambles.

Cummings believed the thousands of acres of land that had been purchased as a buffer for the nuclear power plant and later for the rocket plant, much of it along Pickwick, would be ideal for a tourism attraction.

“That land will be developed one day,” Cummings said recently. “I might be dead, but it will happen.

He added that the rebate program “was really a simple concept. I thought it would help the state and Tishomingo County.”

The program later expired.

But a version of the program was revived in 2007 and is still used today by the Mississippi Development Authority.

In total, since 2008, the new program has paid out $70.6 million in sales tax rebate funds for more than 40 projects. The program was used to help refurbish the King Edward Hotel in downtown Jackson, to build the Mississippi Children’s Museum in Jackson and the aquarium in Gulfport.

More questionable, however, is the fact that many of the larger projects funded through the program were retail developments. The Outlets of Mississippi Mall in Pearl received $24 million, and Tanger Outlets in Southaven got $28.7 million.

Some Mississippi themes, such as Blues music, were incorporated into the Pearl outlet mall to make it a tourist destination.

Wink, wink.

Some argue that it makes no sense to provide such rebates to retail developments. The theory behind the program is to entice new spending in Mississippi with tourism projects, not to use state funds to build malls that compete with already existing retail developments.

There have been some efforts in later years to limit the rebate funds being provided to retail developments.

In the meantime, Cummings says Tishomingo County is still available if anyone is looking.