The mayor and aldermen, in the absence of South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman, agreed Thursday to spend up to $20,000 on independent audits of NRoute mini-bus operations during 2008 and 2009.

Before approving the budget for the new fiscal year, which begins today, the mayor and alderman said they would not release any of its $135,000 allocation to NRoute until the audits were furnished. NRoute Executive Director Evelyn Bumpers had said the cash-strapped public transit system couldn’t afford to fund the audits.

Mayor Paul Winfield and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield voted to spend no more than $10,000 on each audit.

“I would love to go back further, but I don’t think we can afford it,” the mayor said.

City Accountant Doug Whittington estimated the audits could be completed in about six weeks once an auditing firm is hired. That process will begin in the coming weeks.

Though $10,000 was allocated for each audit, Winfield speculated they could cost about half that amount.

Beauman was not present at Thursday’s meeting due to personal business. The alderman has said he will not vote to give more funds to NRoute until audits are completed, and he voted against the adoption of the city’s $31.3 million budget last month because the NRoute allocation was included.

Reached Thursday afternoon, Beauman said he could not offer any comment on the city’s funding of the audits until he researched the matter further — and added he had no idea the issue was on Thursday’s agenda.

The city’s funding of NRoute decreased from $225,000 in fiscal year 2009 to about $160,000 in the fiscal year that ended Thursday.

Winfield said the audits will ensure the city will not have to withhold any of its $135,000 allocation to NRoute for the new fiscal year. Nonetheless, he implied there could be some changes to NRoute services, but did not get specific.

“If we can get this going, we won’t have any interruptions of service,” he said of NRoute operations. “We do have to scale back our operations and I recognize it’s going to bring some heartache and hardship to some people, but monies are tight right now.”

Beginning today, two routes servicing U.S. 61 South and Porters Chapel Road will be discontinued by NRoute, and Saturday operations will also be halted. The NRoute Transportation Commission voted last month to cut the services due to its financial troubles, which Bumpers has said began in May 2007 when the two new routes were added to NRoute’s original seven.

NRoute began operations in June 2006 as a department of the city, but became an independent utility in February 2007.

Nearly two-thirds of the bus system’s annual budget comes from federal and state allocations, while the City of Vicksburg provides about 21 percent funding and the Warren County Board of Supervisors roughly 5 percent. Fares account for about 7.5 percent.

The mayor and aldermen said they are looking into the cost of taking the mini-bus system back under city control, but all three members have said they would prefer it to remain an independent agency.

Winfield said several times Thursday NRoute’s operations need to be improved, but he also reiterated his support of the public transit service.

“What I do not want to happen under my tenure is for NRoute to be terminated, because I know what it means to our community, especially the less fortunate who have limited income and options,” he said. “But there’s been some things going on that we have serious questions about. It’s really not about one person, it’s about the organization.”

Heading into the last month of the fiscal year that ended Thursday, the system was running about a $96,000 deficit.

Bumpers has estimated the service cuts taking effect today will save about $90,000 this fiscal year.

“Things are going to get better,” Winfield assured. “There’s going to be some rough roads ahead, but things are going to get better.”