Despite showing a $5,068 operating deficit at the close of the first quarter of the 2015 fiscal year, Vicksburg Convention Center officials are confident the center will again finish in the black.

The convention center finished fiscal 2014 in the black for the first time in its 17-year history, ending the year with a $7,010 surplus.

“We are anticipating doing it again,” executive director Annette Kirklin told the center’s advisory board Wednesday, “We are watching our income and expenses very closely. We are excited about the repeat and new clients loading up the calendar for 2015,”

Looking at the first quarter of fiscal 2015, she said program attendance at the convention center was 82 percent over 2014, and center use days were up 39 percent.

Financially, the convention center’s first quarter events income was $110,138.20 more than the anticipated $92,274 projected in the 2015 budget, and 28.25 percent over fiscal 2014. Business director Donna Gray said expenses were within the budget projections.

Revenue from the 2 percent lodging tax on hotel rooms in the city was $125,728, or 19 percent below the budgeted $149,119, leaving the $5,000 operating deficit. The tax provides the bulk of the center’s revenue.

Under a management contract between the City of Vicksburg signed in 2013 with Ames, Iowa-based VenuWorks, VenuWorks receives bonuses if the convention center exceeds attendance projections and finishes the year in the black without needing a supplement from the city.

The convention center finished fiscal 2014 with events income of $404,985, expenses of $927,092 and $529,116 in revenue from the hotel tax.

In other action, the board:

• Learned the center had 36 events during the first quarter of fiscal 2015 with an economic impact on the city of $1.5 million,

• Learned construction has begun by Alliance Bus Group of College Park, Ga.,on a 39-passenger bus that will be shared by the convention center, the Vicksburg Senior Center and the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Board of Mayor and And Aldermen approved buying the $171,020 bus in November, The VCVB contributed $50,000 to the purchase.

The bus will be used by the convention center to transport people during conventions and associated programs.

•  Presented a $2,800 donation to Ronald McDonald House. The money was raised during the annual Breakfast with Santa in December.