A second round of government loans in two years will equal $3.58 million and keep Warren County operating until property taxes are paid.

The loans will be directed to the county’s general fund, as well as accounts marked for salaries, supplies and equipment in the Road Department and interest payments on bonds for improvements at the Port of Vicksburg, County Administrator John Smith said.

The loans, called a tax anticipation note,  amount to a cash advance until property tax revenues arrive in March. Borrowing now will allow the county to meet  bond payment deadlines in December. The move comes in tandem with $187,811.07 in loans within county government, involving general fund transfers to the bond interest and Homeland Security funds. Last year, supervisors borrowed $3.3 million to pay for transfers of money out of the general fund that financed part of the technical improvements at the E-911 Dispatch Center and on port improvement bonds issued earlier in the decade. Two projects in the past six years for which bonds were issued remain outstanding — the $3.4 million replacement of the T-dock crane support platform at the port and those issued to refinance the annex building near the courthouse and jail.

State law allows counties to borrow up to 25 percent of estimated taxes on real property in a given year. A public hearing date is expected and the money must be repaid during the fiscal year.

None of the money will go to the county’s gaming fund, which ran $544,000 short in 2008-09 due to more anti-erosion projects being approved and more major health insurance claims from county employees. Twelve payments on the gaming revenue taxes collected by Warren County equaled $2,910,136.22 for 2008-09, which was $328.80 more than the previous fiscal year.

No property tax rate increases were passed by Vicksburg and Warren County governing boards for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1. However, higher tax bills are still possible due to higher assessments every four years, which this year picked up the newest of Vicksburg’s hotels and Riverwalk Casino.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com