NATCHEZ &045; Ronny Brown didn’t pick a very good year to ask the Adams County Board of Supervisors for over $300,000 in new spending.

But with recent events in Tennessee and Atlanta and the security-conscious attitude of America in general, the sheriff didn’t really have a choice.

&uot;We want to secure the top of the courthouse, where the judges stay,&uot; Brown said. &uot;The plan is to fix it to where you can take the elevator and one flight of stairs.&uot;

In order to meet these criteria, Brown said he will need five deputies and equipment including doors and locks to secure the other stairwells.

An X-ray machine and metal detector would also be a big help, he said.

Brown is asking for $329,785 to complete the project. With somewhat less than that coming from the Homeland Security Agency &045; $16,000 is one estimate &045; he probably will have to make do with less.

Brown made his case to the board of supervisors during a budget meeting Thursday.

The specifics of the request were discussed during a closed executive session.

Board president Darryl Grennell said after the meeting that the board had voted to trim the sheriff’s request by &uot;about a third.&uot;

The expenditure is something that can be &uot;done in phases&uot; he said.

Brown said the deputies are the most important aspect of the plan.

In other budget decisions made Thursday:

4The board trimmed salary increases, as well as increases in spending on office furniture and equipment from the Juvenile Detention Center’s request. This cleared room for them to approve the department’s request to contract a nurse to better care for the inmates. More money was also approved for clothes and dry goods for the prisoners.

4Supervisors decided to keep advertising resources at last year’s level of $5,000, despite a request made for $15,000.

4The board cut $75,000 from the Ports and Harbors budget request.

4The sheriff’s department had more than $230,000 cut from its operating budget. The department requested 12 new squad cars at $25,000 each. The board change the number of cars to four.

4The supervisors said they won’t consider salary increases until all of the budget requests are considered. Any leftover money will then be used in that consideration.

The board will meet one more time to finish considering budget requests.