Vicksburg Housing Authority commissioners got their first look Tuesday at a proposed $1.9 million fiscal 2013 operating budget that includes a $91,762 fund balance.

The proposed budget is about $300,000 more than the housing authority’s $1.6 million fiscal 2012 budget.

“This budget includes all our revenue — rental income, grants and subsidies,” said VHA executive director Ben Washington.

He said the authority has another source of revenue for operations, its $681,000 capital supplement.

The money, which is a carryover, from fiscal 2011, is used for capital improvements for the housing authority, but VHA is allowed under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rules to use 30 percent of the capital surplus for operations, Washington said.

The 2013 budget projects about $600,000 in rental income and an estimated $90,000 per month, $1.08 million for 2013, in the authority’s operating supplement from HUD. The rental income is higher than 2012, which was put at $580,000.

VHA’s current operating supplement is $57,000. Washington said the increase will make up for operations money that was used to reimburse tenants for utility services under a HUD regulation requiring the housing authority to reimburse utility costs to tenants who qualify because of income. The housing authority began reimbursing utilities in 2010 to about 20 percent to 25 percent of VHA’s tenants, and continued through 2011.

Money for the reimbursement came out of the authority’s rent revenue. At the time, VHA was collecting an average of $45 to $50 a month for rent from tenants, but paying some tenants from $80 to $100 a month for utilities.

“The reimbursements began in the middle of the budget year in 2010, and it took a year for the supplement to catch up with the gap between rental revenue and what we were paying out,” he said. “That’s why we’re getting the increase now.”

In other action, the board:

• Discussed Washington’s six-month evaluation and approved an annual employment agreement. The matter was discussed in executive session.

• Approved paying bills for July.

• Approved the financial reports.

• Approved a Section 8 lease of $749 a month for a home on Winters Lane.

• Discussed a benefits management program with Ross and Yerger of Jackson.

• Discussed starting a counseling program with Dr. Walter Frazier, executive director of Grace Christian Counseling Center.

• Approved an agreement with the Vicksburg Warren School District and Hinds Community College for a GED program at the housing authority.

• Approved an agreement to increase the authority’s contribution for the Housing Agency Retirement Trust for three employees.