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NATCHEZ — At Monday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting, county supervisors praised the Natchez-Adams School District for its wildly successful homecoming weekend but lamented the lack of revenue generated for county coffers.

The district took in a record $36,000 for the weekend alone, compared to the $29,000 it took in for the entire football season last year. School officials estimate that a little more than 3,000 people participated in the homecoming “tent city” and other events.

“Everybody wins. The city wins (because of increased sales tax revenue). The school district wins. But the county got nothing,” said District 4 Supervisor Ricky Gray.

Gray suggested supervisors should urge the state Legislature to share sales tax revenues with counties, as is done for cities in the state.

County Attorney Scott Slover said after the meeting that cities receive a portion – called a diversion – of the sales taxes the state collects, but counties do not receive any of those funds.

“Approximately a fifth of sales taxes earned come back to cities. That money is diverted back to cities. Counties do not get a portion of sales tax money generated in the county. That’s what counties would like. That’s what Ricky Gray wants,” Slover said.

“It would be very nice for the counties to get that. Usually a bill is dropped every year (in the Legislature) hat would let that happen, but it always dies,” Slover said.

The county’s primary means of generating revenue is property taxes. Cities also collect property taxes. However, the city also collects significant monthly income through sales tax revenues the state shares.

And when events like Natchez High School homecoming draw big crowds to the community, the city sees an economic boost while the county does not.

“Grocery stores won. Restaurants acted like they had no more food to serve. Hats off to Natchez High School and whoever put that together,” Gray said.

District 3 Supervisor Angela Hutchins congratulated the school district on the successful homecoming event.

“It was great,” she said. “I usually cook, but I couldn’t cook because all the meat at the grocery store was sold out, and that’s a good thing. The hotels were full. The city did make money. And I commend the sheriff’s office. They made sure it was peaceful. And I commend Superintendent Zandra McDonald. She was working hard. She was driving a golf cart carrying people back and forth. I haven’t seen a superintendent work at an event like that before. I mean, she worked,” Hutchins said.

Gray urged ACCS and Cathedral to plan similar events for their graduates at homecoming.

District 2 Supervisor Kevin Wilson said Cathedral and ACCS are now allowing tailgating before their games, which is drawing additional people.