The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a financing package for the Meridian Crossroads shopping center — set to open late next year.

Supervisors approved the Tax Increment Financing Plan of 2006 after no one from the community came out to protest the plan during a public hearing.

The $4.5 million project will feature such stores as Ross Dress for Less, Best Buy, PETCO and restaurants Chick-fil-A, Olive Garden and Chili’s. The city of Meridian approved its part of the plan last month, which includes selling bonds to fund the project.

The county’s part of the project includes paying back up to 35 percent, or about $1.2 million, of the debt through property taxes collected from the shopping center.

The board also approved a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $650,000 for renovations to Tower Automotive’s site. The grant is being distributed through the East Central Planning and Development District and requires that 51 percent of Tower’s jobs be offered to people with low and moderate incomes.

In other business, supervisors voted to allow Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie to redirect more funds to the Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, currently operating with a $12,000 deficit.

The amount of money donated to the project from sales in the inmates’ canteen will increase from $500 to $750 a month, and the department will donate 1 percent each month of proceeds from the inmate telephone plan to keep the ministry afloat.

Sollie said the phone plan takes in more than $90,000 a year and he believes the money will go to a worthy cause. The Good News Jail and Prison Ministry provides ministerial services to the inmates of the county jail. The ministry is run by Chaplain Dennis Marks and operates purely on donations.