With a month to go before Vicksburg and Warren County set their respective budgets, officials are looking to wrap up budget talks for 2007-08 that won’t result in any rate hikes or tax increases.

Mayor Laurence Leyens has crunched numbers with the city’s 31 department heads, with early projections showing a $31.26 million city spending plan in the offing.

Vicksburg passed a general fund budget of $28.6 million last August for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, which grew to about $30 million as it was amended.

Leyens said budget discussions have been &#8220encouraging” and the rates that matter most to people – water, gas and sanitation – should not be increased this year.

However, two expensive projects are not part of budget discussions this year.

One is a $2.2 million replacement of two large water tanks at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Its financing is still being formulated, and a water rate increase to defray the cost has not been ruled out.

The other is a $1.4 million resurfacing job on North Washington Street, 20 percent of which would come out of the city’s pocket to match grant money from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Nonetheless, Leyens is generally happy with what he sees with the budget.

&#8220The first year they were asking for $20 million more than we had revenue,” he said.

Capital requests included about $288,000 for purchasing nonspecialized vehicles to be used in multiple departments.

Paul Rogers, strategic planner for the city and a key figure in crafting the city’s spending plans, said many such requests may not make it through to the next budget round because the city’s fleet can be reshuffled between departments as needed.

Notable requests this year include a $555,000 increase for the landscaping department, most of which would pay for improvements to city parking lots.

A $6.37 million request from the Vicksburg Police Department doesn’t factor in pay raises for the 72-member force, but the possibility exists for pay hikes during the fiscal year, department officials said this week.

The police department requested $340,000 for vehicles and related equipment, including $111,600 for six police cars and $36,000 for a prisoner transport van.

Fire Department requests show $288,747 less than a year ago, due to vehicle purchases made then.

Rescue equipment and radios comprise the bulk of the newly anticipated expenses.

Included in the city administration’s request is a $250,000 feasibility study for a proposed $25 million sports complex at Halls Ferry Park, to be built and managed by the Aquila Group.

Though city officials have talked up only the baseball and softball fields, initial plans include an array of other sports, including soccer.

It has raised the attention of the Warren County Parks and Recreation Commission, who along with supervisors in budget talks wondered aloud how it will mesh with the county’s recreation program.

&#8220You don’t have to pay to use it,” Board President Richard George said of the soccer facility at Clear Creek. &#8220Somebody’s going to have to pay to maintain (the proposed sports complex).”

In Warren County, a budget is being put together in the midst of a hotly contested election season.

Election years are usually off-limits for tinkering with millage rates that calculate property tax bills for thousands who will pony up money when bills arrive in December.

This time, however, taxpayers may find opening the envelope easier than choosing candidates.

Even with all five supervisors facing determined opposition in this year’s elections along with preparing a budget shaping up to reach $14.3 million, County Administrator John Smith predicts a decrease in the rate for the first time in six years due to additional revenue from higher real and personal property values.

Figures released by the Warren County Tax Assessor’s Office show rolls rose from $2.9 million in 2006 to $3.1 million in 2007, an 8.3 percent rise.

Some of the rationale for lowering the rate from its current 83.94 mills comes from anticipated increases in residents’ actual tax bills this year because of the higher values.

The bulk of those increases may hit those who feel the pinch hardest – those living inside city limits who already pay both city and county taxes who were part of the county’s annual state-mandated property re-appraisals.

&#8220If you got re-appraised this year, they’re going up,” Smith said. &#8220But we can live off the growth.”

Much of central Vicksburg was covered this year in the recalculation, from downtown south to Warrenton Heights off U.S. 61 South and east to the intersection of East Clay and Mississippi 27.

Another factor that has Smith &#8220thinking out loud” about a lower millage rate – the size of which is undetermined – is the likely cost of of replacing the century-old Warren County Jail on Grove Street with a new facility, pegged at about $20 million or more.

If construction costs keep the price tag on the upper end of that estimate, Smith foresees the millage rate going up about 3.7 mills – the timing of which will be decided by the next board.

A bond issue stretching over 10 or 15 years has been mentioned as its likeliest funding mechanism, one which could overlap with improvement bonds associated with replacing the crane and T-dock support structure at the Port of Vicksburg. Those have been renewed for 10 years, upon their expiration in 2008, to defray the cost of the $3.4 million project.

Saving taxpayers some pain in the short term makes sense, Smith said, as the county inches toward decisions regarding a new jail’s cost and location.

&#8220Might as well get started now,” he said.

Recommended by one grand jury panel after another, the item is absent from the Sheriff’s Department’s $3.9 million budget request, but the first small steps in planning its construction will be taken this year.

Smith, Sheriff Martin Pace and District 1 Supervisor David McDonald will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., in late August to attend a seminar on new jail construction hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Corrections.

Pace said the information gathered will be invaluable, as attendance at such seminars are usually grouped into counties with similar-sized prison populations.

&#8220It’s going to cover everything from construction, land size, financing,” Pace said. &#8220(The purpose) is so we know how to better serve the public.”

All 17 county departments are asking for cost-of-living pay raises of at least 3 percent. Both the Sheriff’s Department and the Road Department have requested 5-percent hikes, raising the starting yearly pay of a deputy sheriff to $26,776, plus an incentive program to reward employees who continue their education or participate in physical fitness programs.

In his pitch to supervisors, Pace said the $68,000 cost of such a program will be outweighed by its long-term benefits to law enforcement, such as a well-educated work force.

&#8220It means fewer injuries and illnesses if they’re fit for duty,” Pace said.

New vehicles and equipment at a cost of $446,000 are needed for the Road Department, manager Richard Winans has said, including five pickups, two dump trucks and a pothole patcher.

In other areas, county-funded recreation figures are to become more prominent in the upcoming fiscal year.

Supervisors spent the past year having off-and-on talks with its Parks and Recreation commissioners, trying to determine a direction three years after a $250,000 upgrade to the front nine of Clear Creek golf course.

This week, commissioners at last came up with a list of improvements focusing almost exclusively on the golf course, estimated at $1.8 million stretching over four years.

If implemented, the first year’s work will entail a new irrigation system and pump station for the golf course. Renovating the back nine would entail more than grass and sod, including reshaping greens and adding features consistent with professional golf courses. As a result, the work is pegged at $750,000.

&#8220A lot of this stuff, we really need now,” commissioner Elijah Johnson said in budget talks with county supervisors Thursday.

The commission is also requesting $415,000 in funding from supervisors this year, $65,000 more than traditionally allocated.

As for nonprofit support, 15 organizations have requested more than $800,000 in funding from Warren County.

This year, supervisors received the authority via local and private legislation to subsidize 10 local church- and charitable-related groups to the tune of $272,500.