The Board of Mayor and Aldermen is still looking for ways to eliminate a $561,209 deficit, and Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the board has to be very cautious how it approaches removing it, adding the decisions made in the next two weeks before state-mandated Sept. 15 deadline could have far-reaching consequences that could affect the fiscal 2017 budget.

Under state law, the board has until Sept. 15 to approve a fiscal 2016 budget and have it in place by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. And while the process seems simple, the mayor said he sees some pitfalls.

“It looks like a simple gap of $560,000,” he said. “I have some grave concerns about the challenges it presents. The danger in this budget is the general operating fund had gone down to $27 million. We had started with a $30 million budget. You still have one-time money — a carryover of $1.4 million (from fiscal 2015).

“You take one-time money and declining revenue in a budget, (and) your challenge is going to be to the next budget, because you won’t gain that $1.4 million back. You have to go back to your tax revenue and your general revenue projections.”

Flaggs said 72 percent of the $27 million is for salaries, including more than $751,000 in firefighter overtime, and the city’s revenue stream is flat — there has been no significant growth in sales and property tax revenue since fiscal 2015.

Sales and property taxes form the bulk of the city’s revenue stream. Property taxes, which account for 20.4 percent of the city’s revenue was are projected to be $8.5 million, up $36,500 more than the $8.46 collected this year.

Sales taxes, which account for 18.7 percent of the city’s revenue, are projected to be $7.77 million, about $50,000 more than the $7.72 million for 2015. The largest revenue figure in the budget is $14 million from other sources, which is comprised of one-time funds, including the recently approved $9.2 million issue and the $1.4 million carryover from 2015.

The combination of stagnant revenue growth coupled with salaries will present another challenge for the board’s 2017 budget, “which will be the finial budget of this administration, which may lead to some cuts, furloughs or tax increase if in fact our revenue doesn’t grow.”

“The good news in the budget is there are no furloughs, no layoffs, no decrease in benefits, no fee increase and no tax increase,” he said.

Looking at the deficit, North Ward Alderman Mayfield said each year department heads present an operating budget and a “wish list” of things they would like to have to make their operations better.

“We need to go back and look at who needs what,” he said. “What can take care of their needs, look at each what each department can be operated without.”

South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said he wants to go back with each city division head and re-evaluate their budgets “and get it down to a working number. I think we can get it down to the $500,000. My preference was to submit a balanced budget and then go from there, but we didn’t do that so it will be a work in progress. I don’t think we’re that far apart.”

Mayfield believes the fire department is being managed well by Fire Chief Charles Atkins and the two deputy chiefs, adding he understands the need for overtime in the department but sees the need to get it under better control.

He said he meets periodically with the fire chiefs about overtime.

“When they come to meet with me, they bring numbers,” he said. “I’ve asked them to not leave a stone unturned. The numbers they’ve shown me make sense outside of a certain number of people who are garnishing a certain amount of overtime.

“When I look at the operation of fire department, I can’t say I feel we’re there and numbers, point to that fact,” he said.

He added he doesn’t foresee furlough or layoffs in any city department, “but I can’t tell you that will be the same case tomorrow.”

“We’ve got to go in and trim the fat,” Thompson said. “We have to look at  those things that could wait, (and) we take them out.”

On the overtime issue, he said it is necessary for city employees to provide the same quality of service they have been providing.

“I’d rather pay overtime rather than to not be able to respond to a call because we’re short-staffed and that ends up in a loss of life,” he said. “I think we do the best we can as stewards of the taxpayers’ dollar. Our job is to do the things necessary to make sure people of Vicksburg are protected and provide the best service we can.”