A new round of state budget cuts ordered by Gov. Phil Bryant could eventually make their way to cities, affecting their bottom line, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Friday.

He said the city would have to be cautious financially, and warned the cuts could have a “trickle down effect” that could hit local governments sometime in 2018.

Bryant Tuesday announced he was ordering $43 million in state budget cuts and taking $7 million from the state’s rainy day fund to cover the state’s expenses through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. One reason for the cuts is the condition of state revenue, which is more than $116 million below projections.

“The governor has ordered cuts three times since July,” Flaggs told Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson. “Do you wonder what that means when the governor cuts revenue because of a shortfall? You have about a year or a year-and-a-half before it trickles down to the local community.”

Flaggs said he discussed the potential effect of the cuts on the city with city division heads Friday, and has asked accounting director Doug Whittington to look at the potential effect on the city’s fiscal 2018 budget and the city’s bond debt.

“I wanted to inform the division heads that we have to be very cautious about our spending going forward,” he said. “I want the division heads to know it may affect the next administration more than it does this. We’ll make our objectives (for the 2017 fiscal year), but this could have a serious impact later.”

Flaggs, a former legislator, said he did not foresee the state going through three budget cuts.

“The first one was in September. This has got to be very severe,” he said. “University Medical Center is talking about laying off because they have to absorb $35 million. When you start having to cut health care, it’s serious.

“Another indictor is the (drop in) gaming revenue, and it must be serious when the governor goes out and cries in the hall for the Legislature to adopt a lottery. They’re looking for revenue. This board had been very cautious in our projections and in our spending.”

Presently, Vicksburg has been seeing an increase of sales tax revenues over the past four year. The city reimbursed 18.5 percent of all revenue from the state’s 7 percent sales tax collected in the city.

According to the city’s accounting department, 2014 sales tax collections totaled $7.71 million, or about $61,210 more than collected in fiscal 2013. Collections for fiscal 2015 were $158,076 more than the previous year, while fiscal 2016 collections totaled about $88,361 more than fiscal 2015.

Year-to-date, collections for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 are 25 percent higher than the same period in 2016.

Flaggs, however, plans to remain cautious.

“We have been very conservative with our budgets, but I felt I have to be open with the department heads and the public and let them know what’s ahead,” he said after the meeting. “Whether I’m part of the next administration or not, they are going to have to deal with this.”