The Warren County Board of Supervisors during its regular meeting Tuesday unanimously approved the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including a pay raise for employees, while not raising millage rates for residents.

The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2025.

County Administrator Loretta Brantley addressed the board about the budget.

The projected revenue and expenditures for the coming fiscal year is $47,036,606. That is a decrease of $724,773 compared to the current fiscal year, she said.

“Our expenditures for this year include capital improvements on accounting buildings, debt service payment for the new jail and equipment for the road department so that they can continue to do the outstanding work that they do for the residents of Warren County,” Brantley said.

The assessed value of the county for the new fiscal year is $602,024,177, down from the current fiscal year value by $7,103,517.

According to Brantley, one of the main factors in that decrease is the Baxter Wilson power plant going offline, leaving less taxable revenue to be considered. Brantley added that the county’s assessed value fluctuates from fiscal year to fiscal year.

When asked how the county is paying for projects like the new jail despite the decrease in revenue, District 5 Supervisor Kelle Barfield said, “Because we are diligent in our pursuit of grants and other state and federal funding to make up the difference that ad valorem taxes do not give us in our total budget.”

Additionally, the budget includes a pay increase of $1 per hour for all full-time Warren County employees. Minimum pay has also increased to $14 per hour.

The proposed ad valorem tax levy will remain at 117.77 mills, meaning that residents will not pay more in ad valorem taxes on homes, automobile tags, utilities, business fixtures and equipment, or rental real property, unless the value of the property has increased.

Tax levy breakdown of each dollar spent for the new fiscal year:

-Schools, 53.39 cents
-General county, 32.22 cents
-Roads/bridges, 7.12 cents
-Hinds Community College, 4.76 cents
-Debt service, 1.35 cents
-Library, 1.16 cents

The FY 2025 budget includes operating budgets for Vicksburg-Warren E-911, the Warren County Port Commission, the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library, the Warren County Fire Services, the Warren County court system, Hinds Community College, the Vicksburg Warren School District, debt service and the Vicksburg-Warren Youth Development Center.