Beginning in the next two weeks, all Vicksburg employee paychecks will be issued electronically, Mayor Laurence Leyens said Tuesday.

The city has had direct deposit available as an option, with most on the payroll already choosing that method.

Of 525 checks issued last pay period, 212 of them were paper, said Sandra Stinson of the city’s accounting department.

The change means all city employees must have bank accounts, something L.J. Lyons, a supervisor in the Water and Gas Department, said he didn’t have or want.

&#8220If I want my check (put in the bank), I’ll take it myself,” said Lyons, a 25-year municipal employee.

Lyons said he might not have the opportunity he has now to correct any error that may appear in the calculation of his pay.

Stinson said that’s not the case and that employees will still receive paper documentation showing full information on paydays.

&#8220It will look exactly like a check,” Stinson said of the paystub received by employees who already have direct deposit.

Leyens said during Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that he recognizes many city employees don’t have bank accounts, but believes they should.

If they establish bank records of rent or mortgage payments, he said, they can become eligible for myriad state and federal programs that, for example, offer down payment assistance for home buyers and tax credits for day care or improvements.

&#8220Let’s get everybody in the banking system,” Leyens said, adding that other benefits for the employees and the city could follow.

One efficiency will be a reduction in in-person banking employees do on paydays twice per month, he said.

Pollis Crawford, a laborer in the Water and Gas Department, said he has direct-deposit and likes it.

&#8220It’s very convenient and you don’t have to do a lot of running around,” Crawford said.

The change is part of a larger push to streamline the city’s banking operations, Leyens said. That push has included a reduction in the number of the city’s banking accounts from about 200 to 12 and a consolidation of the city’s business at BancorpSouth.

In other business, the board: