A five-member committee of city officials will be asked to find a way to pay for a proposed $45.15 million capital improvements program without hitting the taxpayer.

“I believe that we are at the point where we can make some capital improvements to this city without raising taxes,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Monday as he appointed the committee at a meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

He said the committee of Accounting Director Doug Whittington, City Attorney Nancy Thomas, City Clerk Walter Osborne, IT Director Billy Gordon and Human Resources Director Walterine Langford will examine ways to finance the program over 10, 15 and 20 years, without raising city taxes.

The appointment of the committee comes four days after the city’s capital improvements committee presented a $45.15 million list of capital improvements for infrastructure and utilities. The mayor asked the committee to review the list and present a final list of improvements Dec. 1.

“I had the opportunity to look at some numbers over the weekend, and given our budget structure and what we’ve adopted since I’ve been here,” Flaggs said. “The average budget for the city has been around $25 to $32 million every year. It would normally be $30 million.

“Given the economy coming back, the sales tax increase, we ought to be able to structure some debt over the next 10, 15, 20 years, with 15 being the better return of our money.”

Looking at the current general fund budget, he said, there is more than $2 million that can still be cut from the current fiscal 2015 budget the board passed in September, adding “we have not cut (all) the fat from around the steak.”

Flaggs said Friday he could find $2 million in cuts to help fund the bond issue.

Monday, he indicated two possible cuts are public safety and personnel costs, which take up 63 to 65 percent of the budget.

“We’ve got the structure to pay for it, and I think that it is grossly unfair for the citizens of this community to have to be taxed for capital improvements, when there’s $2 million-plus (in cuts) in a budget this size,” he said. “I think this will call for a restructure in some of these departments. The money is there.”

He said the situation involving the utilities is different. The utilities budget is a separate budget from the general fund and funded through user fees.

The proposed capital improvements list is divided into two sections — $20.58 million in improvements in general fund-related items like paving, recreation and information technology, that are paid through the general fund; and $24.56 million in utilities improvements to the water and sewer systems, which are funded by user fees.

It is a pared down version of a proposed list of $57 million in capital improvements presented to Flaggs by the department heads in December.

The most costly items on the list are $10 million for street paving under the general fund items, and $15.59 million in utilities for repairs and improvements to the city’s sewer collection system over a five-year period to bring it in compliance with the terms of a consent decree between the city and the Environmental Protection Agency signed in 2013.

The decree was part of a settlement between the city and the EPA after it was determined the city allowed raw sewage to flow into the Mississippi River and other local streams. The $15.59 million covers work on the system from 2015 to 2019.

Other items on the list include improvements to the water treatment plant on Haining Road totaling $7.37 million in utilities; $3.1 million to replace the city’s antiquated radio system and radios; and $3.85 million in upgrades to the city’s existing recreation facilities.

On the agenda

Meeting Monday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen:

• Approved paying $5,000 for an ad for for the NAACP state convention booklet.

• Approved a request from the Parks and Recreation Department to hold a memorial tennis mixer in at Halls Ferry  Park honor of Beverly O’Neal and to spend up to $300 on concession items.

• Authorized paying $28,941 to Rogers Dabbs Chevrolet Hummer for a 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe. The SUV is being bought through state contract.

• Approved a change order request from United States Environmental Services of Mobile involving work on the lime slurry tank at the water treatment plant on Haining Road. According to a letter accompanying the request, the change order was required because there were problems removing the slurry from the tank. The change order increases the project cost by $10,000, City Attorney Nancy Thomas said.

• Approved hiring Hemphill Construction Co. of Florence to modify the piping at the Bazinsky pump station for $43,900. Hemphill was lowest of three companies bidding on the project.

• Authorized filing liens for clearing the following properties: 1508 Jackson St., State of Mississippi, $157.50; 1512 Jackson St., State of Mississippi , $157.50; two properties owned by Edgar Gibson, 29 Scenic Drive, $188.75, and 39 Scenic Drive, $163.75; 1705 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tommy L. Hunter, $7,085; 2921 Highland Ave., E. Walton Estate c/o Carrie Cruthirds, $7,085; 531 Hugo St., Shawn Hubbard, $7,097.50.

• Authorized Community Development Director Victor Gray-Lewis to clean the following properties: 105 Blue Creek Drive, 165 Blue Creek Drive, 711 Dabney St., 1601 Court St., 1411 Harrison St., lot on Lane Street, 108 N. Locust St., 85 Stillwater and 812 Walnut St.

• Adopted a resolution to apply for a Mississippi Development Authority grant under the 2014 Home Investment Partnership Program.

• Adopted an ordinance requiring a concrete footing for headstones and monuments placed in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

• Amended the city’s zoning to include a definition for teen club under commercial zoning.

In two related matters, the board approved the rezoning of a lot at 3409 Oak St. from commercial residential to C-4 commercial, and approved amending the commercial zoning ordinance to include definitions for major and minor auto repair shops.

• Authorized Mayor George Flaggs Jr. to sign an agreement with Burns Cooley Dennis for $12,500 to prepare plans and specifications for repairs to the retaining wall at the Vicksburg Convention Center.

Authorized Flaggs to sign a grant agreement with the Mississippi Development Authority for a $413,000 Community Development Block Grant public facilities grant for repairs to the wastewater treatment plant.