Property taxes are not going up in the City of Vicksburg, and no city employees are expected to be laid off under a proposed $26.7 million budget presented for fiscal 2013 to the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen Wednesday.

The proposed budget is about $2.1 million less than the fiscal 2012 budget.

City accountant Doug Whittington said the budget presented at the morning work session was still a work in progress, but added it was expected to remain close to $27 million.

“We feel comfortable in saying there will be no tax increase in the city,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said, “and we do not anticipate any layoffs.”

The Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Vicksburg Warren School District have not ruled out increasing property taxes. A review of personal property tax assessments reported to the county two weeks ago is ongoing, County Administrator John Smith said.

“We’re trying to validate the numbers,” he said. “We want to see if there’s a mistake or a bona fide drop in property values.”

The city’s proposed 2013 budget projects $7.07 million in property tax revenue, up from $6.89 million in 2012. Sales tax revenue is predicted to be higher than 2012 at $7.5 million. Casino revenue is forecast to be down, $6.35 million, from $6.37 million in 2012. Sales and property tax and gaming money make up the bulk of the city’s revenue sources.

According to statistics from the Mississippi Department of Revenue, sales tax revenue through July, which reflects taxes collected in May, total $5.25 million, 10.13 percent higher than the same period in 2011.

Whittington said the increase for 2012 is due in part to the outage at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Claiborne County. The Grand Gulf outage began in January and employed as many as 4,000 workers, most of whom resided in Vicksburg hotels and apartments. The additional visitors boosted hotel occupancies and hospitality and retail sales tax revenue.

“We got a boost that we won’t have this fiscal year,” Whittington said. “We’re doing better than budgeted, but not better than previous years.”

City sales tax collections have fallen since 2008, when they totaled $7.7 million. Collections in 2010 totaled $7.22 million, and in 2011, $7.14 million.

“We have been faring well these past three years,” Mayor Paul Winfield said, adding that new businesses in the area “are positive for sales-tax growth. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to be careful. We have to be cautiously optimistic.

“We’re not in the same situation as some local governments in the state,” he said. “We haven’t had to borrow money to help the budget.”

He said the board is also considering refinancing its outstanding debt from 2003 and 2007. The board had scheduled a special meeting Wednesday afternoon, but later canceled it.

“We’ve at least stayed steady,” Mayfield said.

Whittington said the city has been able to maintain a good financial balance.

“We have stayed in the black for the past five years and added to the surplus. We have not eaten the surplus in this administration.”