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VIDALIA, La. — The Vidalia Board of Aldermen on Tuesday awarded a bid of $2.79 million to install grain storage equipment as part of an ongoing Vidalia Port expansion project.

The bid goes to Hope Enterprises LLC, which was recommended by the project engineers as the lowest qualified bidder during the Tuesday meeting of the Board of Aldermen.

Situated within the Vidalia Industrial Park, the Vidalia Port is located on the banks of the Mississippi River along Highway 131, approximately 2.5 miles south of the Town of Vidalia.

Its initial construction commenced in the summer of 2014.

In late May, it was announced the Town of Vidalia had been granted a $15 million line of credit from the State Bond Commission to begin construction of a slack water slip at the port, which would entail dredging a 70-acre lake on which eight working pads will provide safe docking space for clients to offload and load cargo.

Project bidding for the construction of the expansion is set to begin in July.

In other matters during the Tuesday meeting of the Vidalia Board of Aldermen, the board heard an introduction of an ordinance to amend its 2025 operating budget to accurately reflect the town’s fund balance, increasing it by $8.9 million from what had been estimated at the start of the fiscal year.

This is in part because funds to construct a slough pumping station and reconstruct the ambulance storage building on John Dale Drive were taken out of this year’s budget and added to the next budget cycle, according to the town’s CPA, Debra Moak.

Moak said that hydroelectric royalty funds may also come higher than budgeted because of the high river levels. The budget amendments will be presented for approval during a special meeting at the end of June.

The board also approved fixing the amount of hydroelectric royalty revenue to be kept in a reserve account at $2.3 million.

Alderman Robert Gardner and Mayor Buz Craft were both absent during Tuesday’s meeting and Alderman Jon Betts acted in his role as mayor pro tempore.