The City of Vicksburg will keep tax rates even and operate on $31.5 million in the coming year with a faint difference between revenue and expenses.

“Because of the recession – even though we’re doing well comparatively – our budget will look very similar to last year,” said Mayor Laurence Leyens. “We don’t have any choice but to be ultra-conservative with our expenses, and plan to amend the budget throughout the year if and when additional revenue comes in.”

Strategic Planner Paul Rogers has crunched the numbers, and said about $500,000 has been cut from various departments. The money will be shifted to $138,550 in new spending for emergency management and $360,000 for new police cars. Rogers said about $35,000 was earmarked for emergency management via the fire department budget this year.

The spending plan for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 shows raises of 3 percent for the police and fire departments approved earlier this summer. Vicksburg, with more than 500 people employed, has a larger municipal staff than similar-sized cities, but officials say it’s because the city offers more services. Salaries will account for more than half the city’s revenue. “Payroll is eating up our budget, but we needed to adjust our payroll to reduce turnover and have a stable work force,” he said.

Regardless of tight times, Leyens said tax rates will not be raised.

“I’ll cut services before we raise taxes,” he said. “We’re not raising our taxes, period.”

Municipal elections are in the spring and all three city officials are expected to seek new four-year terms. County elections were in 2007 and supervisors have indicated they do plan to impose higher tax rates, which could benefit the city by as much as $400,000. Supervisors have said their road department is facing a $1 million funding shortfall next fiscal year if rates are not raised, but because city residents pay county taxes, too, a portion of the higher county road tax will be paid over to the city to build and maintain municipal streets.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the City Hall Annex Council Room at 1413 Walnut St. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will adopt the budget at its Sept. 2 meeting – the same day the county will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. and adopt its budget.

Although a fifth casino is set to open in Vicksburg around the start of the fiscal year in October, Rogers said the city is not banking on taking in more gaming tax revenues in the coming fiscal year. The budget estimates the city will bring in about $7.4 million in casino revenue, the same as budgeted for this year.

“We think it’s going to hold steady,” he said. “It’s a possibility we could see more tax revenue come in, and the board could approve budget amendments if it does.” Casinos, the first of which opened in August 1993, have been a major funding source for the city, county and public schools. For several years, about 30 cents of every dollar the city receives has come from gaming taxes and property taxes on casino developments.

If you goA public hearing on Vicksburg’s budget will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the City Hall Annex at 1413 Walnut St. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will adopt the budget Sept. 2 – the same day the county will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m. and adopt its budget.The Vicksburg Warren School District is a third component and the largest in local tax bills. School trustees adopted a levy and later reduced it to assure no change in tax rates will be needed.

Property taxes for the city, county and schools are based on a three-component formula. Based on a state schedule depending on the type of property, a percentage of the market value is multiplied by total tax rate, less any credits such as homestead exemption. Rising market values and appraisals will increase taxes even when tax rates remain unchanged. This year’s reappraisal of one-fourth of all property in the county resulted in a net increase of .5 percent.

The largest project the city will begin in next fiscal year is the Washington Street bridge and railroad tunnel at Clark Street, said Leyens, which has yet to get official approval from the Federal Railroad Administration. The city is fronting the money with part of the $16.9 million general obligation bond approved by the board a year ago. Most of the $6 million project will be repaid through federal and state grants, as well as funding from the FRA. The city’s net cost will be $600,000, said Leyens.

“The engineering is already in place, and we’re probably 90 days away from having everything in place to start looking at putting it out for bid,” he said.

Although budget revenues projections are conservative for the coming year, Leyens said the city is in good shape financially.

“Our sales tax revenue is still up about 1 or 2 percent, and we still have low unemployment,” he said. “We are in better financial shape than we’ve ever been.”