NATCHEZ — The Natchez Police Department is looking at the possibility of spending more money in the future if patrol cars are not purchased this year.

Due to the budget shortage, Chief Mike Mullins was told in September that the city would not be able to purchase the five cars he requested. When Mullins put together a mileage projection, he learned that by the time the department would be able to purchase more cars, three cars would have 180,000 miles on them, three would have 140,000 and three other cars would have more than 100,000 miles.

“We’ve never had a car go over 140,000 miles without major engine failure,” Mullins said. “Considering that we usually have one car a year totaled in a wreck, it is apparent that we will not make it to March of 2012 assigning two patrolmen to a car.”

In an average year, patrol cars are ordered in December and delivered in March.

If the board of aldermen waited until December 2011 to order cars and they lose one to a wreck and the three higher mileage cars do not make it to 180,000, as anticipated, that would mean up to four cars would have to be assigned triple shifts, further depreciating the shelf life of the vehicles the department has left.

“This will cause a much larger car order in 2011,” Mullins said, adding that the additional strain would mean higher patrol car budgets in years to come.

Mullins said it would also increase the budget at the city garage, if the patrolmen were riding around in an older fleet.

At Tuesday’s board of aldermen finance meeting, Mullins had a compromise.

“We can order off of the state contract until April, and if we buy three this year we will hopefully not have to order more than four or five next year,” Mullins said.

Mayor Jake Middleton said he believes since the chief is running a shortage in employees, that he will have enough in salary savings to offset the cost, so granting him at least two cars should not be a problem.

“Mike knows better about it than any of us, so it is hard to argue with that,” Middleton said. “Patrol cars are something you can’t do without.”

The police department’s budget for vehicles currently sits at $62,448, which is $25,272 less than the average vehicle budget from 2006-2009.

Because cars are financed, and the city would only be paying until September in this fiscal year, Mullins said buying three cars would increase this year’s budget by $13,125. Mullins said buying two cars would increase this year’s budget by $8,750.

Police cars, Chevrolet Impalas, cost $18,900 through the state’s contracted Chevrolet dealer, the only avenue the police have to order vehicles, and are financed for 24 months.

Middleton said if the city had the money, he’d like to see one officer per patrol car.

“It would be a major initial investment, but I think over time you would end up saving the city money,” Middleton said.

Another idea Middleton had was picking a test car and seeing how many miles the city could get out of it, even if I meant buying a new transmission, as that might be cheaper in the long run.

“Once you get rid of them, you are not going to get much on them,” Middleton said. “People know that law enforcement vehicles are driven hard.”