The VIcksburg Board of Mayor and Alderman last week approved a $31.376 million budget for fiscal year 2025, and Director of Accounting Doug Whittington said the numbers are consistent in the three major categories of ad valorem taxes, retail sales tax and gaming revenue in comparison with FY2024.

Projections for three biggest revenue generators for the city headed into the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, include an $86,000 increase in ad valorem collections, which includes real estate property taxes, personal auto tax and business personal property tax; a $300,000 jump in retail sales tax collected; and a slight decrease in gaming dollars. 

Whittington said one reason for the uptick in ad valorem taxes is consumer confidence increasing, something that can be specifically seen he added in the number of cars being purchased.

Whittington said gaming is projected to slip from $5.865 million in FY2024 to around $5.79 million in FY2025, a 1.286% decrease, in what he called a “slight continued slip” from year-to-year that began in FY2023. Following the drop in gaming revenue due to COVID in 2020, Whittington said the revenue – of which the city receives $3.2% – was higher than pre-COVID numbers in 2021 and 2022, bringing in just over $6 million each year before waning to just below that number in 2023.

Of the 3.2% the city receives from gaming, 25% of that number goes to the county and another 10% to the school district.

Whittington said it is important to note that projections include the month of September 2024 for both ad valorem and retail sales tax, while gaming revenue collections will stretch through October 2024.