Natchez aldermen deserve a little extra credit this week for finally making a move to stop the apparent cash bleed from the city’s general fund.

For years, the city has effectively run out of cash around this time of year prompting the city to have to borrow money just to make the ends meet until the beginning of next year, when property tax receipts begin pouring into the city’s coffers.

For years, aldermen have fussed at the city’s spending, but then approved a budget markedly no different than the previous year’s budget.

The pattern has gone on for several years. It goes like this.

Things in the city rock along until August or September when the city starts to see a financial crisis on the horizon. This usually coincides with the budget preparation work, done in the late summer, to be approved in September ahead of the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

When the city’s leadership realizes paying routine bills will be a struggle in the months ahead, everyone panics.

The city starts using what are effectively payday loans, seeking quick cash from a bank to be repaid in a few months when tax collections pick up.

The challenge is with each of these loans the city often winds up paying a few thousand dollars in interest to the bank. That interest is just wasted taxpayer money.

Most frustrating for most taxpayers is to see this and realize the city doesn’t appear to be doing anything to substantially change this practice.

The blame for this practice has been placed at the feet of City Clerk Donnie Holloway. His office has, in fact, had trouble apparently keeping the figures straight and getting aldermen to understand the city’s finances.

Last week the city’s aldermen went against the mayor’s wishes and put forth a hiring freeze and a moratorium on pay raises.

This frustrates the mayor, it seems, because it’s his responsibility to operate the city.

Aldermen are supposed to leave the majority of city management up to the mayor. Their job is to legislate — set up laws — and appropriate tax money.

While the mayor may think the aldermen are meddling in his business, the fact is the aldermen are responsible for properly appropriating taxpayer money.

Aldermen are well within the bounds of their responsibilities to simply say: Stop spending money.

The underlying problem, if that’s the best way to describe it, appears to be a lack of communication and trust between the mayor and aldermen.

Last week, aldermen alluded to being frustrated to learn about new hires and promotions after they’ve been completed.

While the mayor and department heads typically have the authority to hire and promote within the bounds of their budgets, when the city’s general fund runs dry, aldermen certainly have a responsibility to start asking questions and do what they can to slow the problem.

Mayor Butch Brown has a tendency to simply want to do things his way. That’s understandable, but when things are done and the aldermen — either through direct avoidance or their own inattention — don’t know what’s going on, the city has a problem.

Brown and the aldermen owe it to taxpayers to sort through their interpersonal issues and solve the annual cash crunch — permanently.

Having this cycle of panic occur every year does nothing but further erode the credibility of the city’s elected officials.

One would think an organization the size of the city would be able to get its financial house in order by now and even produce monthly financial statements for both the public and for the policy makers who should be constantly informed and up-to-speed with city finances.

Can running a city be this difficult?

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.