VIDALIA — The second of two public hearings to discuss the City of Vidalia’s use of royalties generated by the Sidney A. Murray Hydroelectric Station will be tonight.

The meeting, which will be 6 p.m. at City Hall, follows an at-times raucous hearing last week during which residents questioned how the funds have been used in the past, when residents might receive a utility rebate and if funds will be used for the proposed Square on Carter project.

In addition to discussing the hydroelectric ordinance, city officials and a consultant presented the Square on Carter to the public in an effort to make the case for the project.

Last week’s meeting also included a number of instances in which citizens aired grievances not tied to the hydroelectric funds or the proposed project.

The hearings came following the instruction of the Louisiana Bond Commission, which last month delayed a vote on the Square on Carter project after an area resident sent the commission a copy of the city’s hydroelectric ordinance, No. 588.

The ordinance stipulates that if the city wants to spend excess hydroelectric revenue, it has to publish a schedule of proposed projects for the money and have two public hearings to receive public input.

The possible expenditure of hydroelectric royalties was included — though not the only revenue stream — in the $7 million proposal for the city to purchase land and lay infrastructure near its western end in an effort to lure private developers to the area to build a residential, commercial and recreational town center.

The ordinance lists six priorities before the surplus expenditure can be considered, including in order:

-Paying city obligations for participation in the hydroelectric plant

-Paying previous debt incurred using surplus revenues

-Making transfers into a Reserve Fund

-Making transfers into the Town of Vidalia Utility Fund every month the municipality’s normal cost of electric power exceeds 38 mills per kilowatt-hour.

-Consideration of rebating up to 50 percent of the remaining revenue to utility customers using a formula based on retail kilowatt usage.

-A transfer to the city’s general fund the amount of funds needed to offset municipal deficits.

During the meeting last week, audience members asked the board of aldermen individually if they believed the city has complied with the ordinance in the recent past. None said they had knowingly or willingly violated the ordinance, though Alderman Jon Betts said he believed hydroelectric funds had been improperly spent in the past.