It’s still in the planning stages, but from early indications it looks as if the Board of Mayor and Aldermen are serious about improving the city’s infrastructure, literally from the ground up.

According to the proposed budgets discussed last week by the board and the city’s department heads, the city plans to spend about $11.06 million on improvements to the city’s utility system and city streets. And none of it is frivolous.

The majority of the proposed outlay is in the utilities department, which is funded, not by city taxes, but by user fees everyone in the city pays for receiving water, gas and sewer service. Of the $7.5 million proposed for utilities improvements, $3.5 million is designed to repair and improve two critical pieces of equipment at the city’s water treatment plant on Haining Road and its wastewater treatment plant on Rifle Range Road.

Work at the water treatment plant involves repairing one of the plant’s reactor clarifiers that puts lime in water to soften it. It’s a $2.15 million water treatment plant project to replace the machine’s mechanical equipment.

“We have to rebuild it; put new equipment in it,” Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said. “Replace the mechanical equipment.”

He said the plant needs both clarifiers operating, adding without them, the plant operates at half its capacity and prevents the city from extending water service, a critical requirement with the city planning to build an auxiliary waterline.

The $1.35 million project to repair the wastewater treatment plant clarifier will replace the mechanics in the machine used in the process to separate solids at the wastewater treatment plant.

The additional $4 million for sewer line assessments is part of the consent decree the city signed with the Environmental Protection Agency to assess, evaluate, repair or replace the city’s 107-year-old sewer system.

The proposed $3.56 million for roadwork comes from the city’s general fund, which is supported by sales and property taxes. The money will fund the Wisconsin Avenue connector linking Wisconsin with North Frontage Road, and  comes from a $1.3 million Mississippi Development Authority loan, while the reminder is money from the city’s $9.8 million bond issue, which will pay for paving streets in the north and south wards.

As with any proposed budget, the numbers discussed by the board are subject to change, and could be increased or reduced before the board takes a final vote on the fiscal 2016 budget on or before Sept. 15. A public hearing on the budget is set for Aug. 27, giving taxpayers a chance to give their opinion on the budget.

When the new administration took office three years ago, the board members said they wanted to point Vicksburg in a new direction. The proposed infrastructure programs in the budget indicate their commitment to that goal.

Vicksburg’s infrastructure is aging, and Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was correct when he said the city is lucky things are not worse. With a continued commitment to repairs or replacing worn equipment and paving, we could just see the city moving forward.