FERRIDAY — The Walmart money is here, but it’s less than last year.

In mid-April, Mayor Glen McGlothin said the town had not received what he had been told was promised money from Walmart, and he couldn’t find any evidence of an agreement between the town and the company.

But late last week, the town received a $270,000 check from the company, $30,000 less than the amount received last year.

“All we got was an envelope with a check in it, no explanation with it but a check cut by 10 percent from last year,” McGlothin said.

When the company left Ferriday, store officials reportedly told former Mayor Gene Allen they would give the town a check to make up for lost sales tax revenue for 10 years, and in February 2008 the town received a $300,000 check.

And while the town now has the money, town officials still don’t know about the arrangement for continued receipt of checks, McGlothin said.

“Nobody is mad or anything, but we just need to know what is going on,” McGlothin said. “I would have thought there was some kind of contract or paper trail, but there is none.”

Former town attorney Derrick Carson has previously said that an agreement does exist, and that a copy of it is kept in a location that only certain Walmart and town officials have access to.

But McGlothin said he wants the town to have a copy of the agreement — a corporate memorandum — on hand.

“We will write a letter to them asking about a copy of the memorandum,” he said. “Right now we are in the dark.”

Details McGlothin said he would like to know include why the check was for 10 percent less this year, and when the town can expect to receive the money.

“I don’t want the board and myself to say, ‘Let’s put this in the budget for 2010 or 2011,’ and the money is not there,” McGlothin said.

“It leaves us in a precarious position of guessing.”

The funds are supposed to be used for special projects, and McGlothin said he is working a budget for the funds he will present to the aldermen at their next meeting.

The money could be used as matching funds for downtown revitalization or sewer project grants, he said.

McGlothin also said he would consider proposing the town set back $100,000 from the funds every year to ensure it can pay the note for the $2.3 million water system overhaul project the aldermen voted to enter.