Budgets adopted last week by Vicksburg and Warren County officials indicate the local governments will operate comfortably, if not luxuriously, in the new fiscal year. Both are leaner, but only slightly. They reflect lower spending on equipment and capital projects and no raises — but otherwise maintain a fairly even keel.

Not so for the Vicksburg Warren School District. Although local property taxes will provide more money — $25 million — to school operations this year, the state’s pledge of cash has already been reduced once and likely will be again.

The good news is that Superintendent Dr. James Price said he “built in” about $1.8 million worth of options in to the district’s spending plan when it went into effect July 1.

The 9,000-student district had expected $37.8 million from state sources, but the 5 percent cuts ordered by Gov. Haley Barbour for all state operations translate into a $1.7 million cut for schools here. That’s serious money — almost $200 per student less than expected — but Price gave no hints of classroom consolidations, layoffs or other adjustments with a discernible impact.

With the state’s revenue lagging about 6 percent behind projections, more reductions are likely through the year. Barbour has made clear that education, which has been seeing increased allocations while others were reduced, will continue to share in any additional cuts. Price hasn’t indicated how much more the schools here will be able to absorb without undertaking major operational changes in staffing or scheduling.

Officials here should count themselves fortunate. The private economy is hard-hit by the national recession, but they’ve escaped any devastating hits — so far — to their operational funding.