FERRIDAY — Two years after leaving the town to move down the highway to Vidalia, Wal-Mart has presented the town of Ferriday with a $300,000 check.

The check, the first yearly installment of 10 for the next decade, is part of an agreement reached between the town and the retail giant to help offset sales tax losses to the town, Mayor Gene Allen said.

The funds will be used to gravel alleys and finish fixing streets the town could not include in its last street overlay program, Allen said.

Some of the monies will also be used to make the town’s recreation program year round, Allen said, and others will be used as matching funds for future grants.

The funds will help the town, Allen said, because — though some would like to believe otherwise — only 17 percent of the town’s revenue is generated by traffic citations.

The town’s budget for the 2008 fiscal year projects for approximately $3.4 million in revenue.

“Our town attorney, Derrick Carson, myself, the Town Council and Ferriday Project Specialist Teresa Dennis worked successfully to assure the fair treatment of the Town of Ferriday,” Allen said. “After a year of waiting and many follow-up calls the dedicated effort has paid off.”