Street paving and improvements to the city’s aging sewer system top the list of proposed capital improvements for the City of Vicksburg totaling about $45.15 million reviewed by the city’s capital improvements committee Friday.
The list is a revised version of the improvements city department heads turned in to Mayor George Flaggs Jr. in December totaling about $57 million. It is divided in to two sections—$20.58 in improvements in general fund-related items like paving, recreation and information technology that are paid through the general fund; and $24.56 in utilities improvements to the water and sewer systems.
Flaggs asked the committee Friday to make further changes in the list and present the revision at a Dec. 1 meeting.
He said the Board of Mayor and Aldermen could begin considering ways to finance the projects in either January or February.
He said he would ask the board to consider funding options to finance the improvements program over 10, 15 or 20 years, adding he intends advertise for proposals for financing, but did not say how the bond issue would be paid.
Flaggs said after the meeting if the board will give him the authority, “I believe I can make cuts in the budget to find the $20 million for the general fund items.
He would not specify any areas, adding, “the whole budget. Everything is open. All the cards are face up and on the table.”
“We have to answer the question, ‘Do you want capital improvements or the status quo?’”
At $15.59 million, improvements to the city’s sewer treatment plant are the most expensive item on the list and takes up more than half the $24.56 million cost of the utilities improvements.
The total covers repairs required over a five-year period to bring the system in compliance with the terms of a consent decree between the city and the Environmental Protection Agency signed in 2013 after it was determined the city allowed raw sewage to flow into the Mississippi River and other local streams.
Under the consent decree, the city must evaluate, repair and upgrade its 107-year-old sewer system within 10 years. The money listed in the $15 million covers work on the system from 2015 to 2019.
Improvements to the water treatment plant on Haining Road total $7.37 million.
“The people at the water treatment plant broke their needs into immediate, intermediate and long-term,” City Accounting Director Doug Whittington said.
The immediate needs, which include replacing a water softening unit, painting one building and its accessories and installing a rake system and pumps in the plant’s washwater tank, total $3.62 million.
Street paving totals $10 million, almost half the total general fund capital improvements budget, with information technology improvement totaling $3.85 million and includes replacing the city’s antiquated radio system and radios.
“We received notice from Motorola (which installed the system) that it will no longer provide maintenance on that service. They’re having a hard time getting parts, so it has reached its end of life usefulness,” City Attorney Nancy Thomas said.
Installing a new system will allow the city to communicate with state agencies and the county.
Another high-ticket item is improvements to the city’s recreation facilities, including the construction of two more tennis courts, which totaled $3.85 million. The figure, Flaggs said, does not include a new sports complex for the city.
The city’s ad hoc recreation committee is expected to present its report on the city’s facilities and the feasibility of a multipurpose recreation complex for the city by Dec. 31.