Attorneys for the 16 area businessmen seeking for nearly five years to keep Vicksburg Municipal Airport open have filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision upholding a city vote to close the facility.

In their Oct. 24 ruling, justices said that the City of Vicksburg could shut down the airport on U.S. 61 South and ordered an injunction that has kept it open since 1999.

The motion filed Friday by attorney Ken Harper is the latest notch in the legal battle that has raged since a February 1998, 2-1 vote by a former Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen to support only the regional airport in Louisiana and convert the existing airport site for use by industry.

“This case addresses issues which are of paramount importance to the very sovereignty of our state and its political subdivisions and the rights of all citizens of this state,” Harper wrote in the motion.

He argues that the lawsuit isn’t about closing the city-owned airport, but whether a Mississippi city can commit taxpayer funds to the entity of another state.

The 1983 and 1997 agreements among the city, Warren County, Madison Parish and Tallulah to form the regional airport in Mound split the cost of the facility among the four governments. Because the Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport is in another state, Harper argues that those funds are under Louisiana jurisdiction.

“Stated differently, can our public officials simply abdicate or surrender a portion of our sovereignty to another sovereign?” Harper wrote in the appeal.

The Supreme Court’s opinion has already rejected that argument, and rehearings are rare. Still, there is no indication the present Vicksburg administration is interested in closing the city airport, which has been operated privately by the plaintiffs since the litigation started.

Each of the four owners provides supplements of about $22,000 each per year to operate VTR. Funding from Vicksburg and Warren County ceased for a while after litigation began, but resumed after each formed court-ordered airport authorities.

The authorities were created to put a legal buffer between liability associated with VTR and the city and county.

In all, six lawsuits have been filed by attorneys for both sides along with multiple appeals and cross appeals. Justices found in favor of the city in eight questions brought by the plaintiffs and the attorneys for the city.

Warren County has never been part of the litigation.