By LINDSEY SHELTON

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — A day before a public hearing on the proposed city budget, one Natchez alderman suggested the city was spending too much on police officers.

The Natchez Police Department has 44 officers, but the budget allows funding for 47 officers.

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard said the department may be overstaffed.

“If you compare us to Laurel or Oxford and other cities our size, we’ve got more uniformed officers per capita and seven detectives. Brookhaven has three,” Dillard said.

But Ward 2 Alderman James “Rickey” Gray said the local crime rate justified a higher number of officers.

“Y’all read the paper,” Gray said. “We’ve got crime.”

But having more officers doesn’t necessarily reduce the crime rate, Dillard said.

“If we doubled (the number), would we have no crime,” Dillard said. “If we tripled it?”

Mayor Jake Middleton suggested putting policies in place that would create salaried positions in the police department instead of hourly jobs.

In other news from the meeting:

-The board also addressed funding for the library, downtown development and budget increases for fire, inspection and other departments.

-Gray said he believes that the board is not being serious enough about doing something with the city’s abandoned properties.

-Dillard voiced his concerns about the maintenance of the city buildings.

“We cannot call ourselves a historic city and have zero money to take care of public properties.”

The public hearing on the city’s proposed budget will be at 5 p.m. today at the City Council Chambers.