With Christmas around the corner, the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Board of Mayor and aldermen may be asking Santa for a sack full of money — among other things.

With the yule season upon us, politics and government are probably the last thing anyone wants to talk about, but you can bet those thoughts are lingering in the backs of the minds of city and county officials.

In less than three weeks, a new Warren County Board of Supervisors will hold its first meeting of 2016 and start its new term Jan. 4, with some serious money matters on the table.

There’s a  $3.4 million bill for new radio equipment that will allow the county to join the state’s MSWIN statewide communications network, $2.5 million to replace a crane at the Port of Vicksburg, and about $160,000 to replace the roof at the county library, for a start.

That doesn’t include the regular cost of operating government, paving roads and repairing or replacing bridges in the county.

The board is considering a possible $7 million bond issue to pay for the new radios, crane and roof work. The road and bridge issues will be handled through state aid road and bridge funds, which the county receives from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen begin the third year of its term with a tight budget and a $2.8 million bill for radios and equipment to join MSWIN. The board has already begun spending the $9.2 million bond issue it approved this year. Evidence of that is a resurfaced and smoother Warrenton Road, and work on roads in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

And hanging over everyone’s head in the city is the proposed sports complex and the referendum on a 2 mill sales tax on food and beverages and hotel rooms to support the complex.

That’s a lot of issues and a lot of money to deal with going into the new year. Here’s hoping city and county officials receive gifts of wisdom, patience, miracles and intelligence to handle the year ahead.