VIDALIA — Concordia Parish’s economic development agency adopted Wednesday a budget that was only 73 percent of the previous year’s total.

The Concordia Economic Development board adopted the $99,400 budget — which projects approximately $100,000 in revenues — for the coming fiscal year. The current fiscal year’s budget is for $138,500, itself a $30,000 reduction from the previous year.

Concordia Economic Development Director Heather Malone said the reductions would be felt in the area of payroll.

One idea that has been considered would be for the City of Vidalia to supplement Malone’s salary, she said.

“Because a good deal of the work I am doing is for Vidalia-specific projects, the city is entertaining helping with a portion of my salary,” Malone said.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland — who is the vice chair for the district — did not return phone messages Wednesday. Malone has worked closely with the city on — among other things — its port project, the broadband initiative and the recruitment of Hinterland, a biomass energy production company to which the city leased 132 acres in 2013.

The district has two employees, Malone and her assistant, Brandi Boles. It is supported by a parish-wide hotel-motel tax, though in recent years the tax has not generated enough revenue to fully fund operations.

In 2013, the district had additional funding through the private sector and from local governments, and for the current fiscal year also sought help from municipalities. This year’s budget only reflects the anticipated hotel tax revenue.

“The budget was fairly conservative for revenue this year,” Malone said. “We scaled down in some areas, pumped up in some areas, but the big thing is we are actually going to have a balanced budget this year.”

The district is putting more money into website development, regionalism efforts and brand development, Malone said.

“We wanted to add more money into advertising, for collateral materials so we can have something other than just a business card that we can promote the parish with,” she said.

During the meeting the board also discussed having an informal meeting of all the parish’s elected leaders to have a roundtable discussion about the plans and projects slated for different communities or departments.

“A lot of entities aren’t working together, and we could be doing that,” Malone said. “Hopefully this discussion will facilitate that.”