School district adopts $40.3 million budget
Published Friday, July 3, 2009
NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District adopted its $40.3 million budget Thursday evening.
While the district’s budget can still be altered if necessary, board members Wayne Barnett and Dr. Benny Wright voted against the budget’s adoption.
Barnett and Wright voiced concerns that the new budget could cause an increase in the amount of taxes paid by county residents, and asked that the vote be postponed until the board had a more clear picture of what the budget would look like.
Barnett said he is concerned the new property taxes will have an impact on the amount of taxes collected by the school board and the amount paid by county residents.
Natchez-Adams School District Business Manager Margaret Parson said since the county’s tax rolls are not yet complete it’s too soon to tell if the budget will increase taxes.
“It’s not our intent to increase taxes,” Parson said.
And while Barnett wanted the vote postponed, NASD Attorney Bruce Kuehnle said had the board not adopted the budget, the district, in theory, could have shut down.
“(Adopting the budget) approves their expenditures,” Kuehnle said. “This allows them to keep things running.”
And fueling that budget is recent news from the state regarding their contribution to the district.
Parson said she was notified Wednesday the state would allocate approximately $17 million to the district’s budget.
As early as last week Parson was still waiting to learn exactly how much the state would be contributing.
This year’s funding lacks more than $500,000 cut by the state in January that was supposed to have been scheduled to be replaced this year, Parson said.
“But it’s just not there,” she said.
The school district will present its final budget to the Adams County Board of Supervisors in August for approval.
In other news, the board voted to enter an interlocal agreement aimed at developing a joint recreation complex between the board, Adams County and the City of Natchez.
Kuehnle explained Thursday’s vote does not bind the board to any action, but gives the board an opportunity to be part of the planning committee and have a voice on the project.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen voted to join the agreement in June and the Adams County Board of Supervisors are expected to vote on the matter at their July 7 meeting.