NATCHEZ — If each of the city of Natchez’s approximately 16,000 residents handed over $1,106, the city could pay off its $17.7 million debt.

Unless its residents decide to empty their savings accounts and piggy banks, it could be many years before the city is debt-free.

The largest chunk of the city’s debt is the bond for the Natchez Convention Center at $9.7 million, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said. The debt should be paid in full by 2024.

The $12 million bond was issued in 1999 to build and furnish the convention center, as well as renovate the Natchez Community Center and City Auditorium.

The city refinanced a portion of the bond through an interest-rate swap transaction executed in 2006 with Malachi Financial Products in an effort to save a projected $1.5 million over the next 18 years.

The payments for the convention center debt are split between two separate bonds.

The first portion of the payment comes from the original $12 million bond that was issued in 1999 and will retire at the end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The city paid $550,690 on the bond during this fiscal year and will pay $543,840 in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The other portion of the payment comes from the interest-rate swap transaction. City Clerk Donnie Holloway has said the city could not refinance all of the convention center bonds in 2006, so a portion of the remained in the original bond and the remainder was refinanced. As a result, the city owes two separate payments for the convention center debt.

The payments for the refinanced portion of the bond were $476,556 this fiscal year and will be $478,137 in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The payment for the refinanced bonds will increase to $1,024,337 in the 2014-2015 and average approximately that until the bond retires in 2024. The payments’ increase coincides with the retirement of the original convention center bond, which Holloway said means that even though one bond is retiring, the city will still be averaging a little more than $1 million in debt service toward the convention center.

The most recent debt added to the city’s total is the $763,000 mini-bond from Britton & Koontz Bank that was issued in August 2012 to purchase the former pecan factory site included in its debt.

The urban renewal bonds for the federal courthouse, which the city paid on for 10 years, were paid off in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

The payment of the courthouse bonds totaled with interest $1.5 million, which Holloway said was spread out in $140,000 annual payments over 10 years.

The city’s total debt also includes a $3 million bond for a street overlay project issued in 2009, $575,000 Natchez Water Works revenue bond in 2005 and a $650,000 loan from Britton & Koontz Bank.

Holloway said the loan was taken out to fund half of a $1.3 million street overlay project after the city failed to receive a $650,000 appropriation from the Mississippi Development Authority a few years ago.

The city’s debt is projected to shrink at an average of $1.4 million over the next 11 years, with the city projected to have $2 million in debt in the 2024-2025 fiscal year if no additional debt is added.

Mayor Butch Brown committed last year to whittling down the city’s debt. But he said this week that he has not done as much as he would have liked in the past year to retire debt.

“I think we owed a big debt to the city employees,” Brown said, referring to the 5-percent raises the city gave its employees last year.

Brown noted that the city did not miss any of its debt payments, but did admit that money that could have been used for debt was used for other expenses, such as “much-needed” equipment and street improvement plans.

“We’ve been playing catch-up this whole time since I took office as mayor,” he said.

As long as the city continues to meet its debt obligations, Brown said he would be happy.

“It would be nice to pay all of our debt service and take care of the needs in the city and still have money for a rainy-day fund for debt service,” he said. “To do all that, though, I think is a stretch.”

In the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, Brown said it would be a good opportunity for the city to look to save money for debt service. The $1 million lease payment from Magnolia Bluffs Casino will be paid to the city in January, and the sale of surplus property will give the city extra cash, Brown said.

“Next year will be a good opportunity to gather up some money for a reserve or for debt payments,” he said.