Only one business applied for property tax exemptions tied to expansions and improvements made to its physical plant in 2009 due to economic strain, Warren County Tax Assessor Richard Holland said Monday.

Cooper Lighting has been approved for a break on new equipment and tools valued at $741,950.04, according to calculations included in a preliminary order OK’d by county supervisors Thursday. The worldwide lighting products manufacturer secured an exemption June 8 from city taxes on the added inventory, which included a shape-cutting machine and a pipe bender. The vote was taken following a closed session Thursday involving unsettled appeals from two area casinos involving land values.

The exemptions, which annually are filed by businesses that have upgraded physical plants or added equipment, can apply to real and/or personal property related to the improvements. Cooper’s exemption covers up to 10 years of ad valorem taxes due to the city and county, with state and school taxes excluded. No other local businesses applied this year for the break, a sign that the brunt of the recession stymied large-scale growth of existing businesses last year, Holland said.

“It’s basically come to a halt,” Holland said. “This is the first year I can ever recall having just one apply.”

Last year, three firms received breaks on more than $14.6 million in new equipment and property purchases in 2008. The year before, five local industries received breaks on about $4.7 million.

Cooper’s plant on U.S. 61 South, which opened in 1982 at the former Westinghouse Electric site, was most active in the past year in the production of energy-efficient outdoor products that use light-emitting diodes, or LED, technology instead of incandescent light.

Though the local plant was not expanded physically, the additions and expansions preserved about 373 regular and contracted jobs at the plant on a $12.5 million payroll, according to the company.

Overall property values in Vicksburg and Warren County rose 1.9 percent in the past year on scant commercial development, a figure on which city and county officials have based forecasts of no hike in tax rates on bills to arrive in December. Budget talks to craft a spending plan for city officials will continue until mid-August, with a hearing planned for 7 p.m. Aug. 26. Supervisors begin discussing departmental and other funding requests during informal sessions starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday. Both are expected to come in lower than this year’s budgets, which equaled $31.1 million for Vicksburg and $15 million for Warren County.

Values set for Ameristar and Riverwalk casinos are in dispute and still in circuit court. No action was reported taken by supervisors during the update with Holland on Thursday. Two other board actions Thursday were recorded by the chancery clerk’s office, the renomination of David Day to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and a vote to apply for money under the Violence Against Women grant program to continue funding for an extra assistant district attorney.