Mayor Paul Winfield said following Monday’s board meeting, at which raises for three employees were denied, that closer scrutiny is coming on pay increases for the city’s 500 employees.

“I don’t anticipate any raises anytime soon — for anybody,” Winfield said. “In light of the current economic conditions, I don’t think we should be signing off any raises until we have taken a close look at where we’re heading financially.”

While the board, minus South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman, approved raises for City Pool lifeguards in regular session Monday, it reconvened following executive session to vote to rescind those raises. The board also denied taking action in the closed session on recommended raises for two employees in the street department and one in the right of way department. 

The freeze follows a Jan. 29 memo from the mayor’s office informing all department heads to cut out all unnecessary spending, put off all capital purchases and limit travel outside the city to training events only. The city is also breaking up annual contributions to local agencies into two payments instead of a single check.

“We have been more closely watching our purchases, and we’re watching for savings from every angle,” the mayor said. “Our collections have been down, and we’re trying to be proactive and cautious before we cut any checks.”

The city’s spending plan for its fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, totals $31.5 million, with gaming and sales taxes rebates making up nearly half the city’s revenue. Through the first quarter of the fiscal year, gaming tax revenues were off by 1.6 percent and sales taxes were off 0.5 percent. Accountant Doug Whittington anticipated declines in both revenue streams into the budget, compared to collections last fiscal year. 

Winfield said he wants to see the city only give raises based on promotions or performance reviews, and added any employee who is due for such a pay raise will not be affected by the raise freeze announced Monday. Human Resources Interim Director Walterine Langford, said the three employees up for raises Monday were changing positions within the city, from one department to another.

Since taking over the department in December, after eight-year director Lamar Horton was fired, Langford said none of the approximately two dozen raises approved by the board, to her recollection, had been performance based.

“All of them have been for position changes,” she said.

The city, as recently as 2008, was giving raises on an annual basis based on performance reviews or promotions, and Langford said it is her understanding that the city will revert to that practice.

“Usually what happened was there were two evaluations throughout the year; one in June and one at the end of the year,” she explained. “Based on the end of the year evaluation, raises would be given based on performance evaluations — if there was money for it.”

Langford said the city had 503 full-time employees and 37 part-time workers on the payroll as of Monday.

Despite the raise freeze, the mayor stressed the city is in better financial shape than most of its neighbors.

“Things aren’t great, but we’re doing a lot better than a lot of communities in the state,” he said. 

In other business Monday, the board took another step toward renovating the 103-year-old Levee Street depot by advertising for bids on the renovation, and also signed a settlement to recoup $11,000 from a Jackson company that provided an erroneous survey of the Vicksburg Municipal Airport. 

Aided by a $1.9 million grant through the Mississippi Department of Transportation — which requires no local match — the city-owned depot is to be renovated into a ground floor transportation museum. The second floor will provide office spaces for the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Vicksburg Main Street Program.

Officials have said they hope to break ground on the project in June, and the office spaces are expected to be ready to move into a year later. The transportation museum is expected to open 18 months after renovations begin.

Following discussion in executive session, the board emerged to approve a settlement with Jackson-based Maptech Inc., which will require the company to reimburse the city $11,000. On Feb. 10, the board approved a $42,954 change order to pay for the relocation of an 18-inch pipe that was not identified in a survey of the U.S. 61 South airport done by Maptech. The survey was in preparation for construction of a 10-stall T-hangar, but the pipe was not discovered until ground was broken. The T-hangar is to cost roughly $600,000, half of which will be paid for via a share of the city’s $1.3 million Community Development Block Grant awarded following Hurricane Katrina.

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com