Waiting six weeks to pursue firms to provide appraisals of real and personal property in Warren County has landed supervisors back where they started — with the same two companies originally proposed by Tax Assessor Angela Brown — but at a higher price.

Bids to provide the appraisals were opened at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting Monday.

Bidding on the contract to appraise homes and land in Vicksburg and Warren County was Louisville, Miss.-based Wes Kight and Associates LLC. Bidding on the personal property appraisal contract was Statewide Appraisal Services Inc., of Brandon.

The board rejected on Jan. 17 Brown’s request to hire both firms, following board attorney Marcie Southerland’s recommendation to open the job to public bids.

The result was a surprise, said county purchasing agent Tonga Vinson.

“It’s disappointing to receive just one bid (for each category),” Vinson said.

The Kight firm submitted a three-year bid totaling $442,000 — $90,000 the first year and $176,000 in each of the second and third years. That averages $147,300 per year. The deal as originally proposed was for $520,000 over four years, or $130,000 per year.

Statewide Appraisal had offered a two-year deal for $64,000, which in the bid process increased to $72,000.

Supervisors, minus District 3 representative Charles Selmon, who was at the National Association of Counties legislative conference in Washington, D.C., took the matter under advisement.

Going back to square one is “always a possibility,” said Vinson. “The board reserves the right to reject any bid and start over.”

Supervisors will vote on the bids Monday.

Before then, they will review and discuss the bids with Brown at an informal meeting, said County Administrator John Smith.

Brown was in attendance when bids were opened but was not in her office later and did not return a message. Smith said he has not reviewed the bids and could not comment on how they differ from the earlier proposals.

Five veteran staff members of the assessor’s office retired, quit or were fired since Brown was elected Nov. 8.

The county’s budget for 2011-12 allotted $321,986 for the office and projected five employees. Brown said in January that the annual cost of hiring an appraisal firm would save the county $212,000 because three appraisal positions had not been filled. At the same time, she didn’t rule out hiring additional employees.

By law, 25 percent of a county’s parcels must be reappraised to achieve an updated roll every four years.

Meeting Monday, supervisors also approved sending six resolutions to the Mississippi Legislature to contribute funding to local, private agencies:

Central Mississippi Prevention Services, $1,125; Triumph Ministries Inc., $11,250; We Care Community Services, $5,625; Vicksburg Family Development, $4,500; WWISCAA, $6,750; Mississippi Food Network, $1,800.

Two other agencies could be in line for funding to bring the total up to the budgeted $40,050, said Smith. A resolution for one, the Women’s Restoration Shelter, will be presented Monday and the other will be discussed, he said.

The board also held a public hearing on a 2012 Community Development Block Grant application for a public facilities project.

The county will apply for grant funds not to exceed $600,000, said Ollie Elfer of Jimmy Gouras Urban Planning.

“One of the projects the county is looking at is a possible road project,” Elfer said. “CDBG requires that at least 51 percent of the people benefiting from the grant be low to moderate income, and that’s one of the rating factors in the grant because it’s a competitive process.”

No comments were taken Monday, but the public comment period extends to 5 p.m. March 16. They may be submitted to the chancery clerk’s office at the courthouse. No further information about the project was available.

On the agenda

Meeting Monday, members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors:

• Approved February minutes.

• Approved naming service providers for a Community Development Block Grant public facilities application: Jimmy G. Gouras Urban Planning Consultants for administrative services; ABMB Engineers for engineering; and Ellis, Braddock and Dees for legal services; and rejected bids from WGK for engineering services and Southerland and Southerland for legal services.

• Approved and accepted monthly Road Department reports from Buddy Poole, road manager, including driveway permits, temporary dumping easements and work order status.

• Approved a supplemental agreement for the Industrial Drive improvement project, subject to review by John Smith, the Warren County Port Commission and the Mississippi Department of Transportation, to include repairing slides and ground shifts since the original project was approved; MDOT can contribute another $400,000, which will require $100,000 in county matching funds. Original grant was $1.5 million.

• Accepted report of fines for September through December assessed by the district attorney’s office.

• Approved invoices for $25,934.12 and $13,562.13 from county engineer John McKee; $4,504.92 reimbursement to Drug Court for coordinator’s salary and benefits for February; $19,527.59 for the county’s share of E911 dispatchers’ salaries and benefits for February; invoice for $4,965 from board attorney Marcie Southerland for February; invoice related to the Bayou Project for $10,486.31 from ABMB Engineers; awarded legal services for the Bayou Project to Ellis, Braddock and Dees, Ltd.; approved travel for District 2 Supervisor William Banks to the Central Mississippi Planning and Development conference in Biloxi, May 1-4; and accepted letter from MEMA stating Hazard Mitigation Plan for unincorporated areas of the county is in compliance with federal requirements and the plan is approved for five years.

• Approved monthly cash receipts journal, general ledger and claims docket for February; approved justice court settlement for Jan. 21 to Feb. 20; accepted minutes of the Port Commission (Feb. 21), E911 Commission (Jan. 25) and Parks and Recreation (Jan. 17); approved $500 in pauper’s burial expenses for a Warren County native who died Feb. 21 while incarcerated; approved Butler Snow proposal to continue to prepare disclosure information statements for bond issues at a cost not to exceed $1,500; approved county jail payments for January; and approved the supplemental claims docket for February.

• Received without opening proposals for coinless inmate telephone systems and services at Warren County detention facilities from IC Solutions of San Antonio, Texas, and Securus Technologies of Dallas. Proposals will be reviewed by a selection committee which will return a recommendation to supervisors.

In closed session, the board discussed a litigation matter.