Few questions and a couple of suggestions set the tone for an 80-minute budget unveiling Thursday at City Hall.

The Mayor and Aldermen outlined the $31 million spending plan for about 20 Vicksburg residents. The total is down about $500,000 from this year’s spending plan and shifts money around, but retains a payroll of about 550 people.

To comment

• The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen will take written comments and suggestions on the proposed budget through Thursday. They can be submitted to the City Clerk’s office, which is on the second floor of City Hall, 1401 Walnut St.

• The Warren County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m., Tuesday Sept. 8 in its third-floor meeting room inside the courthouse on Cherry Street.

Click here for Vicksburg propsed budget

Click here for Warren County proposed budget

Click here for budget revenue and property taxes at a glance

“We have what we have and it is what it is,” Mayor Paul Winfield said of the budget, which reflects less revenue anticipated from property and gaming taxes. A state rebate of sales taxes is the third major income component.

The city’s hearing came 10 days before Warren County supervisors hear comments and consider $15 million in spending for 2009-10. Both boards have pledged no change in tax rates for the coming year, however higher valuations and new high-end properties are likely to raise final tax bills for parts of the local tax base.

North Ward Alderman Mayfield noted the city reduced capital allotments and would have been forced to cut 30 to 50 city jobs had officials not decided to trim spending on equipment, vehicles and other capital expenses.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman was absent from the session.

Among comments, Tommie Rawlings, who works in construction, suggested the mayor and aldermen could increase revenue if they forced companies who contract for city work to employ more local residents.

“Most people who are delinquent on their taxes are unemployed; good people who would like to pay their taxes,” said Rawlings, who also sits on the Vicksburg Zoning Board of Appeals. “If you would force contractors to hire 60 percent of their workers from Warren County most people will be able to pay their taxes.”

Mayfield said the board has discussed that kind of local employment requirement for contractors, but noted the law limits the board’s reach in enacting such a requirement in the open bid process. 

“I’m not asking you to break the law … but I’d like to see you bend it as far as you can to help our residents,” Rawlings said.

Willie Robinson wanted to know if the board had considered consolidating any services or departments to cut expenses.

“I, for one, personally believe we have too many departments for the structure we have. You can look at cities four times the size (of Vicksburg), as far as voting population, that have 10 departments. We do anticipate sometime in the future …. merging some departments,” said Winfield, who added reducing the number of departments would not necessarily equate to job losses, but simply fewer department heads reporting to the mayor and aldermen. 

Waid Barfield, 16, asked what the city would do to bring more businesses to town to increase property taxes and avoid budgeting shortfalls in the future, to which Winfield said he hopes to establish a planning department to focus on economic development. However, the mayor added, the current budget will not allow for the creation of a planning department in the coming year.

Winfield also said the city’s contributions to charities “will be down,” but did not get into specifics. He also added those who seek sponsorships from the city are going to be reviewed more closely before a donation is considered or awarded. Last month, the board had to quit granting sponsorships that were not built into the budget because the advertising fund had run dry.

“It’s not going to be a free- for-all,” he said of charitable giving, adding the city’s allocation to the Vicksburg Main Street Program will be down slightly, while the Vicksburg Senior Center will receive slightly more and the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will receive the same contribution as the current year.

Public funding of charities by the county, already cut during this fiscal year, will be cut by $65,000. Sixteen organizations on the current budget draft whose primary mission is charity are in line to receive about $500,000.

Also in the county, despite the bump in land rolls this year, supervisors appeared to have crafted a budget with cuts to 31 of 45 general-funded departments and other entities to head off both job cuts and tax rate hikes. More than two-thirds of the county’s total revenue comes from property taxes, with the rest coming from revenue- and population-based taxes on gaming, fees collected from court fines, reimbursements from the state on homestead exemptions, penalties and interest and various other taxes.

Together, that list totals $14,624,741 for 2010 on a newly reworked budget estimate, about $1 million higher in revenue than this year. Spending cuts equal more than $700,000 to bring the general fund deficit to $406,306 from $2.1 million this year. Health insurance claims by county employees this year have surpassed $800,000, with rising rates next year expected to force the county’s total health insurance spending to double to $669,000.

Personnel cuts were limited to unfilled, part-time slots in seven departments including the Information Technology Department, Tax Assessor’s Office, Justice Court, Extension Office and Warren County Jail. Retirements are also hitting the Tax Collector’s Office and the Department of Human Services.

The biggest cut comes in Buildings & Grounds, which reflects another delay on general dollars to paint and carpet the interior of the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library. Supervisors still hope for federal energy-related stimulus funds to finance new windows and light fixtures.

Combined funding for the Sheriff’s Department and Warren County Jail is $159,757 less than last year, with fewer new vehicles and personnel reflected in the proposed budget. Pay raises are limited to department-specific hikes related to longevity or tenure, examples being two in the Road Department and full-time dispatchers in E-911.

Circuit court funding is down nearly $43,000 in the proposed budget, as equipment and juror witness fund amounts have been reduced.

Energy costs are a lesser concern in the upcoming budget, reflective of lower prices at the gas pump than at this time last year. The current budget draft shows 316,000 will be spent in the Road Department on highway maintenance and ferry operation, about $128,000 less than this year’s budget.

Roughly two-thirds of the city’s revenue comes from property, sales and gaming taxes — with each of those sources accounting for approximately $7 million annually. The rest comes from contributions from the state and county, as well as various permit fees and fines. The city anticipates property and gaming taxes to be down by a combined $221,000, while it estimates sales taxes will remain flat. An estimated $3.74 million will be brought in by permits, fees and fines — an increase of $153,150 over the current year.

The mayor and aldermen must adopt the budget by Sept. 15 according to state law. Both governments begin new fiscal years Oct. 1.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com