The city of Vicksburg ended the 2022 fiscal year in good shape, finishing with an overall net fund balance of $32 million, according to an audit report on city funds.

The annual audit report is required under state law.

“I’m just pleased to deliver the audit report for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2022,” auditor Booker T. Camper Jr. said. “It’s a good report. Revenue for government funds (which includes bond interest and capital projects money) is $54 million and we had an excess of revenue over expenditures of $6.8 million so it was a good, good report for this year.”

The report shows the government-wide financial statement showed total assets of $262 million with liabilities of $141 million.

“The city of Vicksburg has a net worth, government-wide, of $121 million,” Camper said.

“It’s been a good year, mayor and aldermen; it’s been a real good year,” he said.

“What stopped it from being a great year?” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. asked.

After the meeting, Flaggs said the information from the audit report showed the city is moving in the right direction.

“I think it’s a great document,” Flaggs said.

“I’m glad to see you guys smiling,” Ward 1 Alderman Michael Mayfield told Finance Director Doug Whittington and Camper.

Whittington said a copy of the audit report will be sent to the state, investors, federal agencies and Moody’s Investment Services, a New York-based provider of credit ratings and risk analysis. The investment service sets the city’s bond rating, which determines a borrower’s ability to pay off a loan or bond issue.

The ratings go from AAA to C, with AAA being the highest and best rating and C the lowest. Moody’s rating service also has a “WR” designation, which means the rating has been withdrawn.

The city briefly lost its bond rating in 2022 after problems delayed the presentation of the fiscal 2021 audit report to the city, but it has since been restored.