The Vicksburg Convention Center has had an increase in income because of more conventions this quarter, from Jan. 1 to March 31, said Norman Ford, director of business and operations.

Higher food and beverage charges, insurance and equipment rentals attached to conventions caused the surge in income, he said. The total income from this quarter was $76,116, up from $68,497 last quarter.

&#8220Income is up because we had a good quarter,” he said. &#8220Last year, we had a lot of events, but they were mostly one-time trade shows.” By count, the convention center logged 56 rentals in the first quarter, up from 10 in 2005.

Ford said the convention center and auditorium have been picking up business relocated from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

&#8220They want to come back next year because we did a good job keeping them here,” he said. &#8220The staff deserves to be commended.”

The final payment of $1,274,500 for the 10-year-old Mulberry Street facility was made on March 13. City officials issued $12 million in bonds for the project.

Since then, the debt and operating overhead have been paid from rental income, the city’s general tax revenue and a 2 percent tax added to bills for rooms rented by the night.

For the past five years, the VCC has been managed under contract by Compass Facility Management, which now also operates Vicksburg Auditorium, and, under separate bookkeeping, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Income from the auditorium was also up from $11,705 last year to $14,069 this quarter. Ford said the increase was up due to higher sales of event insurance to clients and &#8220more deliberate recovery of expenses from clients.”

In other business, Larry Gawronski, executive director of the convention center, announced that Riverside Food Service, which has been catering VCC events since 2001, would terminate its contract with the convention center July 1. The food service company is run by Rhonda Wright, co-owner of Goldie’s Trail Bar-B-Q on Washington Street, and Gary Thomas, owner of Goldie’s Express on Pemberton Square Boulevard. Gawronski said Compass would hire a banquet and catering manager and bring on an approved caterer, who could bring more service to the facility.