Coast mayors talk 2026 legislative priorities

ROY HOWARD COMMUNITY JOURNALISM CENTER-Coast mayors say they’re pushing for funding this year that supports growth, from tourism to storm recovery and long-term infrastructure.

Kristen Kaylor with the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center shows us what that could look like.

Coastal cities across South Mississippi continue to see growth in population and tourism — and leaders say keeping up depends on what lawmakers fund this session.

In Hancock County, Diamondhead is moving forward with a project decades in the making — its first downtown.

Since incorporating in 2012, the city has grown steadily, but leaders say it’s never had a defined commercial center. “We’re kind of one of the youngest cities in the state. We’ve had growth, and we’ve had some commercial things come in, but we haven’t had a defined downtown, and that’s what this is.”

Mayor Anna Liese says the downtown will use form-based zoning, allowing businesses to change over time while maintaining a cohesive look. “It’s a blank slate right now, and we’ve got a great opportunity to really make things nice.”

She says projects like this rely on state and federal funding — a concern shared across the coast.
In Harrison County, Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce says recovery from Hurricane Zeta in 2020 stalled for years because of funding challenges. “The longer we wait, the more we’re getting behind the eight-ball.”

Pierce says the city has rebuilt the destroyed harbor and it’s now reinforced to withstand stronger storms, but Long Beach still needs millions to fully open the facility — funding he hopes the legislature will help unlock.

And in Biloxi, Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich says state support for marine infrastructure and tourism projects could help drive revenue. “The more revenue we get from the state and from the sales tax or use tax, the better we are in providing what we need to do.”