NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees hosted a public hearing Friday to hear feedback on the district’s proposed property tax increase, but no one showed up to contest or laud the plan.

The district will operate its next fiscal year with total revenues of $40,564,516, of that it will request $13,208,734 of Adams County taxpayers, a 4-percent increase over the 2015-16 school year. The increase in local revenue requested will increase school ad valorem millage rate from 50.91 following the recent increase in property values to 52.92 mills. Millage for the school system is capped by the state at 55.

NASD Business and Finance Manager Monica Anderson said the district is allowed to request up to a 4-percent increase each year — up to the maximum 55 mills — without giving the funding agency, Adams County, an option to decline it.

Anderson told school board members she had spoken to County Administrator Joe Murray and the two were “a little at odds” over what the base funding should be. Anderson said she believed it should be the final amount the district received from the county, while she said Murray mentioned it should be what the school board requested at the beginning of the year. The difference in funding would be approximately $120,000.

Murray later said he doesn’t know what legal regulations the school operates under, so he said school attorney Bruce Kuehnle should be the final arbitrator. Murray said he was happy to help Anderson with the update on property value figures she needed to do her job.

Anderson said the district paid $10,947 per student in 2015. Comparing that to a district of roughly equal size, Alcorn County, she said that district spent $8,738 per student.

Board of Trustees member Thelma Newsome said a large factor in that high number is the amount of special needs students in the district. Natchez-Adams School District had 561 special education students, 81 gifted students and 123 homeless students in 2015.

“I know this is something we get pounced on … every year,” Newsome said. “I am not saying we are serving more special education students than we should, but that Natchez has a greater number of students with special needs.”

Board member Cynthia Smith said to top that off, the special education budget is coming from federal and state sources, not local, Of the $10,947 spent per student, $7,068 is coming from federal and state sources.

The school district is projecting to spend approximately $19 million on instruction and $16 million on support services.

The district will approve the budget at a future school board meeting. The next regularly scheduled meeting is at 4 p.m. July 26.

Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher said he also would consider raising ticket prices at football games. He said at Ferriday High School, a ticket costs $7, but it’s only $5 at Natchez High School.

Butcher said this creates a system where the students are out trying to wash cars to help pay for the programs. Students are putting themselves in danger of getting hit trying to flag down people on the local highways, Butcher said.

“If we have a program, we ought to put enough money in the program to fund it,” Butcher said. “I think we can take the money we make at the gate and put it back in the program to make improvements.”