Young says fire department $600,000 over annual budget

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 30, 2009

Gertrude Young, one of four candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to Mayor of Vicksburg, said the Vicksburg Fire Department has gone $600,000 over budget so far this fiscal year on overtime pay for firefighters — a claim Mayor Laurence Leyens on Wednesday said is not true.

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Three of four Democratic mayoral candidates will debate Friday on the second floor of the Warren County Courthouse beginning at 6 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Vicksburg Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Corp., National Organization of Blacks in Government and the NAACP.

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It is one of several issues Young said she hopes to bring up when she and two other Democratic candidates square off at a second debate Friday, kicking off the final weekend of campaigning before the party primary Tuesday.

Leyens’ name will not be on that ballot. As an independent seeking a third term, he will face the Democratic nominee on June 2.

Service contractor and NAACP Vicksburg Chapter president John Shorter, attorney Paul Winfield and Young, a real estate agent and former North Ward Alderman, have agreed to participate in the debate. It will begin at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Warren County Courthouse on Cherry Street. As he did during a debate last month, business owner Tommy Wright said he will sit out.

Young began filing a variety of open records requests at City Hall in February, and said the excessive overtime pay at the fire department is just one example of the need for additional oversight and responsibility in all city departments.

“My thing is accountability — that’s what we have department heads for. With 26 or 27 departments, you can’t expect the administration to keep its eyes on everything. We need to make department heads accountable to stay within their budgets,” Young said. “This should have never happened in the first place.”

Leyens denied the fire department has gone over budget on overtime spending.

“They’re actually on budget for the first time in a few years,” he said. “It has been a problem in the past, but we put an end to that beginning last October.”

The city allocated $4.9 million for fire department personnel this fiscal year, up from $4.5 million in fiscal year 2008. Young stopped short of saying Chief Keith Rogers or either of the department’s two deputy chiefs should be replaced.

“I believe in making a full assessment before we decide we just need to cut someone out in any department,” she said.

Shorter and Winfield have both said they would replace Police Chief Tommy Moffett if elected due to what they said is his poor leadership of the police department. Leyens hired Moffett and said he has no plans to replace the chief.

The Vicksburg Municipal Airport has also been a divisive issue. The city has taken a renewed interest in the airport on U.S. 61 South, and has committed to renovating and expanding the facility under Leyens’ administration. Young has long supported the airport, while Winfield has said it has potential as an economic development tool and Shorter has called for the facility to be closed. Wright has not commented on the issue.

Polls at 11 area precincts will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, with a runoff scheduled for May 19 if one of the candidates does not receive more than 50 percent of the votes. The winner will face Leyens on a June 2 ballot.

Sponsored by the Vicksburg Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Corp., National Organization of Blacks in Government and NAACP, the debate Friday will be moderated by a representative from the blacks in government group. Questions will be taken from those in the audience, and candidates will have two minutes to respond to each question. Time will be provided for opening and closing remarks.

All three participating candidates said they hope the parks and recreation department is also brought up at the debate. Shorter said the city should stop privatizing youth sports and enlarge the department, even if it means spending more on providing activities than can be generated through services fees. Young and Winfield have made similar remarks on the department, and Wright has made the lack of recreational activities and facilities for area youth a cornerstone of his platform.

All Democratic candidates have also said there needs to be some degree of change in code enforcement in the city. In a campaign newsletter, Wright has cited the issue as his top priority and said the Leyens’ administration has been conspiring to acquire certain properties in the city by selectively and illegally using code enforcement ordinances.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com