VALDOSTA — The Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority continued pursuing the Valdosta medical school at its meeting last week.

The VLDA approved an amendment to simplify the agreement with Valdosta City Schools and the medical school prospect. The original agreement allowed the prospect to purchase the current Valdosta High School buildings in three installments. The new agreement allows the prospect to purchase the buildings all at once.

The new agreement will allow VCS to continue using the VHS sports fields for the next four years and the fine arts building for the next six years at a cost of $1 per year, said Bill Holland, of Coleman Tally, LLC.

The VCS Board of Education voted to approve the same agreement amendment at its June 13 board meeting, VLDA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer said.

The VLDA voted to approve its annual budget for next year.

“Everything pretty much stays the same (as last year) on the budget,” Schruijer said.

Schruijer said the primary differences in next year’s budget will be decreased costs for supplies for the development authority and increase costs to cover fully renovating the VLDA website. The current website has not been fully renovated in six years, Schruijer said.

Development authority staff is working on five active projects looking to locate to Valdosta and Lowndes County with a potential capital investment of approximately $50 million and 102 new jobs, Schruijer said.

Schruijer said a sixth project fell through after the company failed to answer phone calls and other communications from the authority for about a year.

The VLDA went into executive session for approximately 20 minutes to discuss real estate and pending deals. After the session, the authority approved a financial incentive with Hunt Industries.

The VLDA meets next at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, at 103 Roosevelt Drive in the Development Authority conference room.

The meeting is open to the public.