NATCHEZ — Adams County residents asked for answers and clarifications on the fiscal year 2011 budget during the board of supervisors’ public hearing Thursday.

This year’s proposed budget, which was finalized by the supervisors on Sept. 1, includes a 2.59-mill ad valorem tax increase for county residents outside of the city limits.

The total budget includes anticipated revenues of $22,396,922, down from $24,487,920 from fiscal year 2010.

District 2 resident Mike Lomasney asked the board for clarification on the more than $2 million drop in revenue.

Board president Darryl Grennell said some funds in last year’s budget were “one- time only” receipts and therefore had to be dropped from the revenues.

Monies, such as those received to purchase property right-of-ways for the widening of Emerald Mound Road and funds used to purchase a crane, were reflected in last year’s budget, Grennell said.

“The money was put in and came out,” Supervisor Mike Lazarus said.

Lomasney also asked how anticipated expenditures were cut to compensate for the drop in revenue.

County Administrator Joe Murray said cuts were made in the budget after meeting with department heads and hearing department budget requests, but most of the difference was in one-time monies that the board knew would not be back.

Employee travel was cut to include only travel needed for state-mandated certifications, Murray said.

Total expenditures are budgeted to be $22,384,459. That is down from $24,137,579 in fiscal year 2010.

Resident John Seyfarth Jr. questioned the supervisors on vehicle usage by the county road crews.

Grennell said the road department has 16 vehicles and 55 employees.

“When you get (those) trucks running around town, who is paying for that gas?” Seyfarth asked. “The county is, the taxpayers.”

Supervisor S.E. Spanky Felter said authorized employees have a Fuelman card that allows them to purchase gas for vehicles. Felter said employees are to track mileage in writing.

Felter said he isn’t sure how good those records are.

“I haven’t checked it, but I’m going to,” he said.

Felter also voiced his contention to the increase in millage request from Natchez-Adams School District.

The district requested a 2.41-mill increase for this fiscal year.

Felter said he believes the 2.59-mill increase in the county budget is a direct result of the school board’s increased request. He said if that is the case then it is unfair to only raise taxes for residents outside the city limits.

Grennell said the increased millage request from the school board was absorbed through other budget cuts and the increase was actually going to fund fire protection for the county residents.

“By law, only residents outside the city can be taxed for (fire protection),” he said.

Lazarus said in the past gaming revenues were used to cover fire protection, but since those have dropped, other funds have to be raised to cover the costs.

Last year’s millage for county fire protection was .25 mills. This year’s millage is 2.84 mills. The difference of 2.59 mills is the exact amount of the ad valorem increase.

Felter said he believed that could have been done without raising taxes.

“We found more (than that) in the budget that we took out,” he said.

Lazarus said the current budget allows for breathing room in the event of an emergency or storm.

“We’re doing a good job with our budget,” he said. “We really have some cushion in our budget.”