NATCHEZ — Although the approximately $750,000 needed to finish the North Natchez Drainage Project is not in the city’s budget this year, city officials say the project will be completed — even if the city has to borrow the money.

Natchez City Engineer David Gardner said he and his staff are working to find grants to help match the approximately $4 million that is needed to complete phase II-B, the last phase of the project.

He said the city has several pending grant applications with several agencies for various programs, including the Delta Regional Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, in whose ward the project is, said the city is working hard to secure grants, but if the city cannot get the grant money, it will have to borrow the remaining money needed to complete the project.

Work for phases I and II-A of the project replaced underground drainage pipes and equipment on Canal Street to Madison Street to Wall Street and finally to Oak Street. Phase II-B will entail drainage work for Buckner’s Alley, such as the field behind the Children’s Home and the areas going toward Elm Street.

Mathis said Buckner’s Alley residents have waited long enough for drainage improvements.

“These people have been waiting since 2000 to get this water off their property,” she said. “Then the flood came, and now they’re still waiting to get rid of that water.”

“We have taken care of the downtown area, and we will be taking care of Buckner’s Alley,” Mathis said.

Gardner said he is hoping to get the last phase of the project started late next spring or early summer. If the city isn’t awarded grants, Gardner said the city may have to borrow the money.

The project is funded through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Infrastructure and Resource Protection and Development Program, also known as Section 592, and requires a 25 percent cost share match from the city.

Gardner said the $12 million project, which was first proposed in 2002, was originally scheduled to be completed in three years but has stretched nearly 10 years because funding from the USACE has taken so long to secure.

“What happened was that the money has trickled in instead of coming in large chunks,” he said.

Gardner said the original $2 million match was fully funded by the city during the early stages of the project.

Gardner said, however, since the federal money was not given to the city by the USACE in a timely fashion and because construction costs have increased in the past 10 years, the city now has to come up with the additional $750,000.

“It’s not really their fault,” he said. “They had their budget slashed by Congress just like everyone else, and the money just wasn’t there.”

Gardner said the city has secured all of the remaining federal funds for the project within the last year.

Mayor Jake Middleton said borrowing the money for the project would be a last resort, but he said he didn’t see how the city could pass up the federal funds by not providing a match.

Middleton said phase II-A wasn’t as expensive as originally estimated, and he is hoping the city will get good bids for project construction to reduce the needed match funds.

Middleton said he and Gardner have a trip tentatively planned to Washington, D.C., in February to lobby for money for the project and other city efforts.

“Our congressmen and senators are saying there’s just not money for earmarks for projects, so we’re just staying positive and hoping we get these grants,” he said.