A $1.3 million price tag to close the Vicksburg Municipal Airport has caused Mayor George Flaggs Jr. to take another look at the feasibility of shutting it down, and he wants the public’s help on the matter.

The property is under consideration as the site for the city’s proposed sports complex.

“I’m calling a public hearing on next Thursday (July 16) at 5 p.m. in the boardroom to get input from the community,” he said Tuesday. “I’m of the opinion that this cannot be a city hall-only decision. It must include all the interested parties that utilize the airport: the (Warren County) Board of Supervisors, port commission, chamber of commerce, everybody.

“It’s got to be a community decision because of the fact that if we close this airport, regardless of the sport complex, or not, the potential of getting an airport back in Vicksburg is slim and none,” he said.

Flaggs’ comments followed a Tuesday afternoon meeting about the airport with Federal Aviation Administration officials in Jackson. City Attorney Nancy Thomas and South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson also attended the meeting.

He said FAA and Mississippi Department of Transportation officials said the city would have to reimburse the FAA and MDOT $1.3 million for the grants provided to the airport for improvements if it closes. The bulk of that amount is $813,794 in federal funds.

He said city officials will meet again with the FAA in 30 days to discuss the city’s decision.

Tuesday’s meeting, he said, was a fact-finding meeting.

“Now we have to come back, get some input (from the community), get all our dockets together and then go back to them in 30 days and tell them whether we want to do it or not,” he said. “We’ve got to make a decision between now and 30 days whether we want to pull the trigger and close it or keep it open. I want my vote to be based on a business decision, long-term, as opposed to a sports complex.”

Flaggs said he does not oppose the sports complex, but “I want the (city’s) business and economic development future to drive it. We have to make certain it’s a cost-effective the decision. Meaning it would reduce the cost to the city budget. We’re at a crossroads going forward in our city with our debt.”

According to information from the city’s accounting office, the airport has run deficits of $126,200 in 2011, $78,912.58 in 2012, and $121,606.81 in 2103. It shows a $17,043 deficit for fiscal 2014, according to the city’s recently completed audit report. One reason for the drop, city accounting director Doug Whittington said, was the retirement of former airport director Curt Follmer, who was paid $60,000 a year plus benefits as a full-time director.

The city now has a part-time director.

Besides the airport’s deficit, Flaggs said there is no room at the site to expand.

“It can only be maintained,” he said, adding it would cost the city about “$20 million-plus” to make improvements and expand the facility to accept larger aircraft because of the approach problems and the (5,000-foot) runway.”

And there is the city’s partnership in the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport in Mound, La., which it shares with Warren County, Tallulah, La., and Madison Parish.

“We are the only entity at the table that funds the Vicksburg Airport and fund our share at Tallulah,” he said. “The county doesn’t have any money in the airport.”

The airport’s budget for fiscal 2013 was $467,820. It was $438,962 for 2015.

According to the city accounting department, the city’s share for Vicksburg-Tallulah operations totaled $49,900 in 2011, $48,907 in 2012, $65,074 in 2013, and $44,483 in payments in 2014. So far, it has spent $29,252 in fiscal 2015.

The FAA, Thompson said, “told us what our options were. We need to pool our thoughts.”

He said some local industries have moved their aircraft to Vicksburg-Tallulah, adding, “We need make a decision.”

“We do know there’s no room to make improvements at the airport, so if we decide to keep it open, it will be no more than what we’ve got right now,” he said.

Thompson said he would like to see the city move to one airport and use Vicksburg-Tallulah.

“If we’re going to spend money, I’d rather see the resources go into the newer airport,” he said. “I think we can have a better airport and a better location.”

He said, however, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen have a lot to consider before making a decision, such as costs, timetables for closing and the city’s obligations for both airports.

Thompson said Flaggs’ decision to call a meeting “is not a bad move. We need to know how the public feels about closing the airport. It’s been going back and forth years. Maybe we can have some closure.”

Built in 1948, the airport was the center of a controversy in the late 1990s to close it in favor of the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport in Mound, La., which is jointly owned by the city, Warren County, Tallulah, La., and Madison Parish.

The municipal airport sits on about 200 acres of land, most of it flat. It has a two-story, 2,450-square-foot terminal building and a 25,000-gallon aviation fuel facility.

The controversy in the 1990s resulted in a court battle.