$1.5 million returned to city of Vicksburg’s reserve fund

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — In a meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen held Friday, May 23, 2025, a late agenda item returned $1.5 million back to the city’s reserve fund, exactly five months after moving the money in late 2024.

On December 23, the city voted—2-0-1 (Alderman Mayfield was not present at this meeting)—in a Special Call Meeting to move $1.5 million from the city’s reserve fund, colloquially referred to as a rainy day fund, to the city’s water and gas pool account, which is the city’s general fund account.

Doug Whittington, director of accounting for the City of Vicksburg, explained in the December 23, 2024, meeting that the money was moved due to shortfalls in revenue, which are not atypical at the end of the calendar year.

“We have a lot of outstanding receivables with the federal government,” Whittington said. “On two or three NRCS projects, SRF, several things that we don’t get until we’ve completed the project, and then we get our reimbursement. Typically every year, October to December is—because of property tax checks coming in January and February—this is always our lowest point of cash.”

Mayor Flaggs then asked Whittington if he promised to return the funds.

“I promise to return it until the point at which we potentially, as you [Mayor Flaggs] have said, to potentially use it in the current year,” said Whittington.

One week later, on December 30, 2024, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch gave an official response to a request submitted by Mayor Flaggs regarding “Municipal Garbage Fee Increase.”

The question presented was: “May the City of Vicksburg (‘City’) allocate a portion of its general fund to help cover the rising costs of its waste disposal services, thereby preventing the need for further increases in fees or taxes on its residents?”

The Attorney General’s response was addressed in the Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting held on January 6, 2025. Whittington read an email he had written to both the Mayor and the City Attorney, Lee Thames.

“Due to the Attorney General’s opinion dated Dec. 30, 2024, the city will no longer adopt a budget that uses general funds to cover the collection and disposal of garbage and rubbish,” Whittington said. “As soon as reasonably possible, on or after July 1, 2025, the board will determine a timeline to repay the loan and increase garbage rates to achieve that goal. Once the city repays the loan, the rate may be lowered to cover the city’s costs and a nominal amount for supplies.”

As reported by the Vicksburg Daily News, according to city records, as of January 2025, Vicksburg has 7,358 homes and businesses relying on municipal garbage collection. At that time, the garbage collection fund was $1.1 million short. By July 1, 2025, the shortfall is projected to reach between $1.4 million and $1.5 million.

At the beginning of Friday’s meeting, Mayor Flaggs addressed mayoral candidate Willis Thompson’s claim that only $61,000 is currently in the city’s reserve fund. Thompson previously announced the rainy-day fund balance at the candidate forum held earlier this month as well as in a statement on the candidate’s campaign social media page after Friday’s meeting.

“It’s been said… and I think that at the time it was said, it was probably correct, and now we’re going to correct it, that $61,000 was in the reserve,” said Flaggs. “What we were doing and what we thought we were doing is we were leaving that money in the regular [water and gas] account so that we could have some collateral. We’re told that from October to February we have a lower cash flow in the bank. So, Doug [Whittington, director of accounting] came to me and we talked about it and we moved the money over for collateral. Didn’t spend it; didn’t intend to spend it; wasn’t going to spend it, and we’re not going to spend it, because we’re moving it back.”

Mayor Flaggs clarified later with the Vicksburg Daily News that he misspoke when he said collateral.

“What I should have said was precaution,” said Flaggs.

In a statement made by Willis Thompson on his campaign page, the mayoral candidate claims that the decision “follows a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by mayoral candidate and former South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson, who sought financial records from the city clerk’s office.”

The statement went on to claim that the documents obtained through Thompson’s request revealed that the city’s reserve fund held just $61,240.19 as of April 2025. According to Thompson, that figure marks a sharp decline from the more than $3 million in deposits he says were in the account when he left office in 2017.

The Vicksburg Daily News also reached out to Kasman Massey, who is also running for mayor, for a statement. At the time of this writing, she had not responded. However, she did address government spending in a post made to her Facebook campaign page on Saturday, including a screenshot of an AI overview that appears to ask whether municipal governments are allowed to transfer money between different accounts to cover shortages.

“The more we know—the better armed we are against manipulation,” said Massey on her Facebook page. “Question everything, research before you react, and seek the truth. Some things are for shock value and eroding public trust—don’t let yourself be led astray if you can help it!! I’m not applying for City Accountant or Auditor—I’m applying to be your Public Servant as Mayor. Please share so many others can see how manipulating public trust hurts our community.”

In speaking with the Vicksburg Daily News, Whittington said that instead of taking out a short-term loan during the lean months of October through the end of the year, they just borrowed it from themselves.

“We transferred [the $1.5 million] on December 23,” said Whittington. “The county used to take out short-term notes for this type of scenario, late on property tax, but we just borrowed from ourselves. Transferred it from the reserve fund to the pool cash, and exactly five months later to the day, May 23, we put it back. We received our property tax, so on and so forth. It’s very much so boring municipality work at play.”