City of Vicksburg has over 500 vehicles and trailers, 306 are active vehicles

The City of Vicksburg’s inventory comprises a total of over 500 vehicles and trailers.

A recent Freedom of Information request provided to the Vicksburg Daily News shows the city has 306 active vehicles, 172 surplus vehicles, 11 vehicles listed in the auction category, and 3 trailers. An additional column lists on the administration line 9 surplus vehicles and 40 surplus trailers. We’ve added those 49 units to the 306 active, 172 surplus, 11 auction, and 3 trailers to arrive at a total of 541 vehicles and trailers.

The Fire Department has 41 active vehicles and 24 in surplus.

The Police Department has 90 active vehicles and 69 in surplus, with 3 listed in the auction category.

Departments, active and surplus vehicles

COV Vehicles

Total: 306 active, 172 surplus, 11 listed for auction, 3 trailers = 492 + 49 listed below = 541 units

An additional row on the Administrative line has “Misc” – Surplus-9, Trailer-40. It is unclear what that information represents.

Questions

The Vicksburg Daily News reached out to Mayor George Flaggs for information regarding the number of vehicles and in particular the 162 vehicles listed under the police department and their current operating condition. Mayor George Flaggs responded via a memo sent by his assistant Jacqueline Walker, that there were “80 police vehicles in service now.” The response goes on to say, “It is possible we have had 162 vehicles, but a lot of vehicles have been surplused from the start of our record keeping.”

Just yesterday

On April 15, which was six weeks after the Freedom of Information request was submitted, the City posted twelve vehicles that were going to be auctioned off by a national auction house.

“Why didn’t they use a local auction house? It would have created local tax revenue and a local business would have benefited and local citizens would have been given a greater opportunity to purchase the items?” asked Marilyn Terry, the person who provided the original information to the Vicksburg Daily News.

The city stated that they use a national auction house to sell city vehicles because they have made more profits through the auctions.

April 15 vehicles