Natchez prides itself on its beautiful bluffs overlooking the river and its stately homes.

But it’s the homes that have become less than stately that city officials are worried about.

At an aldermen meeting last week, Mayor Phillip West requested City Planner Dennis Story and Building Inspector Paul Dawes discuss which dilapidated houses should be addressed first.

If a house is in poor condition and uninhabited, among other things, the city can send a letter to the owner requesting he or she correct the situation.

“They have a certain amount of time to correct it,” West said. “If they don’t, the city can declare it dilapidated, and we can tear the structure down ourselves.”

That only happens in severe cases, West said, especially if the public health is at risk.

Recently, though, no houses have been torn down except in emergency situations, he said.

“We haven’t had a lot of resources in order to follow through, even if the owner does nothing,” West said. “Last year, we allocated maybe only $10,000. This year, we’ve allocated $50,000 in our budget in order to address these situations.”

The cost of tearing down a dilapidated house varies on the structure and what precautions they have to take in demolishing it. If, for example, it’s near other buildings, especially historic ones, the building can’t just be knocked down.

It has to be demolished from the inside out, very carefully.

Now that such projects have stronger financial backing, West said the city can look at the worst-case houses that have already gone through the process of being classified as dilapidated.

“We’re talking about real dilapidated structures where they’re unoccupied that create fire and health conditions,” West said.

“Plus, they’re eyesores and bring other pieces of property in that area down by simply sitting there.”

Some of the houses aren’t well secured, so vagrants and children can get in, Dawes said.

“There’s always the possibility, especially in wintertime, of people getting in there and causing a fire,” Dawes said. “That’s what we’re concerned about the most.”

Fire, in fact, is one of the things that most worries Alderman James “Ricky” Gray.

In the past few months, several abandoned houses have caught fire, one burning to the ground and igniting a neighboring house.

Gray said he inherited the problem of abandoned houses when he took his position on the board in 2000.

“Everybody is about how they want to beautify Natchez,” Gray said.

“In order to beautify our city, we’ve got to start at the bottom and work our way up to the top.”

It’s not a snap decision to tear a house down, Dawes said. It’s a long process, and most of the time owners get several chances to fix problems.

“If people work in good faith with us, if they say, ‘I’m getting my tax money in a few months and I can afford to fix it then,’ we’ll work with them,” Dawes said.