Natchez budget plan being presented Tuesday

NATCHEZ, Miss. – The budget proposal that the mayor and city aldermen will present to the public Tuesday includes pay raises for city employees.

The hearing will show how city officials plan to spend Natchez taxpayers’ money in the fiscal year that starts in October.

The proposed budget – which does not include a property tax hike – calls for increasing the salaries of fire department and public works department employees by 8 percent, according to City Clerk Megan McKenzie, Natchez police officers – who got a raise in pay last year – are in line for another 4 percent increase in the coming year. The spending plan also itemizes higher pay for other city employees – including $6,000-a-year salary increases in the city clerk’s office.

While spending projections are being finalized for the next fiscal year, the current year began last October budgeted with about $50 million in total expenditures of federal, state and local funds for Natchez.

The city is now “running a surplus” as sales and property tax collections continue to flow up due to the city’s robust economy, according to Mayor Dan Gibson.

Noting Natchez has more business activities and increased land values generating more tax revenues, Gibson said he’s “so pleased with how things are going financially for the city.”

He also pointed to “a record number of grants that have come into our city” that have enabled officials “to do more for Natchez.” The state and federal grants include money to improve Morgantown Road, Silver Street “and the list goes on and on,” Gibson said.

Gibson and the Board of Aldermen met this past Tuesday to discuss the budget, which will be presented next Tuesday at a hearing where the general public can pose questions and provide input for the fiscal plan. The Sept. 5 meeting at the City Council Chambers on Pearl Street is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

The board is scheduled to approve the final budget Sept. 12.