This fiscal year’s bad finances are only going to get worse, said Vicksburg’s senior legislator.

“What worries me is next year when we have $1 billion worth in stimulus dropping out,” said Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, referring in general terms to a $1.6 billion bulge in the Joint Legislative Budget Committee’s projected spending plan for fiscal 2010-11.

The 90-day session of the 2010 Legislature begins Tuesday.

Flaggs is among seven House members on the 14-member committee that will deal with finances for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The panel has proposed a $4.5 billion general fund budget for the coming year, with the figure becoming $6.1 billion when funds from the federal stimulus and other sources are added. Most state agencies will see cuts, with some up to 10 percent when compared with the start of this year’s budget before cuts kicked in during the year. More than 3,600 unfilled positions across the departmental spectrum are on the chopping block, and a move is afoot for limits on employee state travel.

Details to be reconciled with the budget proposed by Gov. Haley Barbour involve increased contributions to the public employee retirement system for state and local government workers and decreased cost-of-living adjustments.

Education remains a hot-button issue with the local delegation heading into a session, as Barbour has proposed merging Mississippi’s eight public universities into five and slicing the number of grade school districts to 100 from 152.

Vicksburg’s delegation in Jackson differed on elementary education for the coming year, with each deferring to party leanings.

“I’ll support whatever comes out of the committee,” Flaggs said. The House Education Committee is chaired by Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson and vice-chaired by Rep. Sara Thomas, D-Indianola.

Flaggs recanted earlier statements that seemed to favor university mergers, saying at a town hall meeting last month he favors restructuring programs at the state’s eight colleges and not merging or closing any of them. He plans to file other bills unrelated to the budget but said he will wait to discuss any details.

Rep. Alex Monsour, R-Vicksburg, supports fewer school districts in Mississippi, terming it a necessity to bring down costs. The budget shouldn’t include any new taxes and should be as fiscally conservative as possible, he said.

“We’re talking about reducing administrative costs,” Monsour said, adding population should dictate the number of school districts in any one county, ideally “no more than two.” Monsour took no stance on the proposed mergers in higher education, but predicted it would be a “battle royal” on the House floor if plans progress.

Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, said shrinking the number of school districts “is something we should be looking at” because of the state’s overall financial picture, one that is marked by lower tax revenues for a third year in a row.

The Vicksburg Warren School District budget was set 5 percent lower by trustees, anticipating cuts in state aid, Board President Jerry Boland said. Staff reductions through attrition are among options under review as the district’s staff looks for ways to save money in next year’s budget, Boland said.

Hopson, who sits on the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, forecast changes only to individual programs in higher learning, such as how many engineering and nursing programs are offered and where — and not to institutions themselves.

“There’s enough of a geographic difference to have the same program in two places,” Hopson said. “I think it’s less likely that we’ll have a major overhaul of the university system.”

Prominent on Monsour’s education agenda is a “career diploma” bill to allow junior high school-age students to pursue a less stringent curriculum with courses tied to vocational training than traditional college prep. If passed, it would mimic a similar law passed last year in Louisiana that allows students at least 15 years old to be part of a career-track program requiring the student to take at least seven career or technical courses before graduation. Parental permission is required beforehand. In Louisiana, individual districts can receive waivers from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to opt out of the plan.

The third-year legislator said specifics such as an age minimum and course types are under review and have been pitched to Superintendent James Price, who was unavailable for comment.

“Some say it’s dumbing down education, but it’s just giving (students) an alternate degree,” Monsour said.

Other bills expected to be filed include a state-level bill that would put into the state constitution language to protect people, employers or health care providers from compulsory participation in any health care system — an item championed by Monsour as a way to head off effects of looming health care legislation by Congress and President Obama. A pair of re-files by Hopson includes setup of a health insurance exchange board and requiring a probable cause hearing when a criminal arrest warrant is issued.

Bills requested by Vicksburg and Warren County government and law enforcement promise to be fewer this year than in year’s past, due in part to a new city administration, new senior officials in the police department and budget issues getting most of county supervisors’ attention.

No dates have been set on either chamber’s calendar. However, if requests go beyond the now-annual submissions to allow local government to fund nonprofit organizations and other charities, communication should start sooner than later because of a likely mid-January deadline for filing general bills, Flaggs said.

Support for new restrictions on ATV ridership is growing among a number of legislators, with Monsour voicing a need for new laws relating to minors but not necessarily for adults. Two ATV-related deaths occurred in Warren County in 2008.

State Reps. Dannie Reed, R-Ackerman, and Sen. Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, have said in recent weeks they will draft bills to require helmets and training classes and limit ridership. Currently, safety equipment and classes are recommended by manufacturers but aren’t required by state law.

Sheriff Martin Pace also has mentioned the need for the Legislature to address the issue, adding he supports the Mississippi Sheriff’s Association in desiring specific language not currently in state law outlawing four-wheelers on public roads and a separate vehicle-tagging system for ATVs, likely through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

Another attempt will be made to allow county sheriffs departments in Mississippi to use radar equipment on nonmunicipal roads, Pace said, adding the department remains powerless to enforce posted speed limits on high-traffic two-lane roads like Fisher Ferry and Oak Ridge.

“Warren County citizen complaints on speeding — year after year — outnumber those for burglary, larceny and domestic violence combined,” Pace said.

Full funding of the state crime lab and of a full-time medical examiner to conduct autopsies remains tops on the District Attorney’s Office’s list of wishes for the session, District Attorney Ricky Smith said.

Lawmakers authorized $12M toward a new crime lab, with the location undecided.

Committee chairmanships are expected to remain the same for the upcoming session. For Flaggs, it means he will chair the House Banking and Financial Services Committee, as well as hold spots on the Appropriations, Executive Contingent Fund, Fees and Salaries of Public Officers, Gaming, Investigate State Offices, Legislative Budget, Medicaid, Public Health and Human Services committees.

Monsour sits on the House Juvenile Justice, Judiciary B, Ports, Harbors and Airports and Transportation committees.

In the state Senate, Hopson vice-chairs the Judiciary A Committee and sits on the Judiciary B panel. Also, Hopson is on the Appropriations, Environmental Protection, Conservation and Water, Ports and Marine Resources, Public Health and Welfare, Tourism and Universities and Colleges committees.

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Staff writers Tish Butts and Pamela Hitchins contributed to this report.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com