Vicksburg and Warren County boards have set a summit for next week to resolve the future of four interlocal agreements.

All five supervisors will be joined by the city’s mayor of alderman at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Vicksburg Warren Chamber of Commerce as both boards work separately to complete their budget-setting process in August.

The decision to meet follows sessions between city and county employees to pore over numbers and derive accurate cost figures.

All of the agreements have been contentious at times, with the focus this year on the countywide ambulance service operated through the Vicksburg Fire Department.

Agreements for shared services also exist on tax collection, redemption of property for non-payment of taxes and emergency dispatch funding.

The state allows local governments to share the cost of public services, but requires signed agreements be submitted to the attorney general each year.

In the state-approved ambulance agreement in place, the county has been paying the city $350,000 each year to provide life support and rescue services to county residents. The county does not pay for trips made by ambulances for mostly non-emergency calls such as basic transfers of patients from their homes or nursing homes to medical appointments. Those are categorized as &#8220basic life support” and the vast majority are inside the city limits.

When supervisors met informally Thursday, supervisors mulled copies of ambulance runs the Vicksburg Fire Department has calculated during the current fiscal year. It was the first time the board had seen the numbers, used during the meeting as a model to show how the department arrives at the numbers by which the county pays the yearly supplement.

They looked at runs made from October 2005 through June 2006. According to the figures, 2,021 runs originated beyond city limits during that time, at a cost of $341,551.93.

Historically, about 30 to 35 percent of the runs have been made to the county. In a letter signed by Mayor Laurence Leyens and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman last month, that comes at a $1.9 million cost. Ambulance and rescue units have an annual cost to the city of $3.2 million.

Questions likely to come up Wednesday will address a falling rate of collection by the city-contracted firm that bills public and private insurance companies for life support runs.

The county receives a credit on its payments based on a 61.8 percent collection rate. However, the rate has fallen to the mid-50s, officials of both boards have said.

&#8220If that’s the case (for the loss), fine. Identify it,” District 5 Richard George said.

Another concerns life support transfers from River Region Medical Center to other medical care facilities, which were included in the county run total.

In the city’s proposal letter, the county’s share would be reformulated, based on $300 per response for rescue personnel and $300 per patient for ambulance response.