Though the action carried only the weight of a voice vote, Warren County approved a first step toward reworking terms of how Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport is operated.

Passing a five-year extension of the operational agreement between Vicksburg, Warren County, Tallulah and Madison Parish headed a list of items supervisors OK’d in principle on Monday, followed by unanimous votes to extend the agreement to 25 years once the five-year extension is signed. Supervisors also want to nix a contentious fuel price clause and kick in an additional $25,000 to compensate for lagging fuel sales if the airport board makes a formal request.

“You can’t amend something that doesn’t exist,” said board attorney Randy Sherard, who was to draft a modified version of the agreement for approval by the four local governments that own the airport in Madison Parish. Vicksburg officials did not take up the topic when they met Monday.

A 25-year pact signed in 1983, a decade before the Mound airport opened, expired in December 2008. A deal pushed by former Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens shortened the life of the four-way partnership to five years and required airport officials to notify each owner if fuel prices were set 15 cents per gallon below regional competitors. Supervisors have favored a strict, market-based approach to how the airport should handle fuel sales.

Profits from fuel and other fees provide most of the operating income for VTR and for Vicksburg Municipal, owned by the City of Vicksburg. The balance is provided by general tax funds or in-kind services.

In an 80-minute meeting last week, VTR board members based the need for more operating funds on 2009 fuel sales that were down more than 54 percent from 2008.

“From all indications, we’re going to do it,” District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale said of the pending money request, terming last week’s explanation of fuel sales and prices that are often posted on the Internet as “very lengthy and detailed.”

The four owners have budgeted around $30,000 annually to supplement basic operating costs, while big-ticket capital upgrades including a lighting system upgrade and a parallel taxiway undertaken within the past 18 months have been funded by grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration. Except for routine dirt work needed to reinforce a few of the lights, both upgrades are complete, VTR Manager Randy Woods said Monday. Those everyday expenses have surpassed budget projections for both Vicksburg and Warren County, officials for each said last week.