NATCHEZ — The Natchez Board of Aldermen discussed city financing of ongoing projects Tuesday night.

The board moved to set up a work session in which community development projects and matching funds would be discussed and financed for the remainder of the fiscal year, but a date has not been set for the meeting.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said a special work session was needed to sort out how the remaining projects would be funded and what money was already obligated to projects.

“There was also some discussion about raises,” Arceneaux-Mathis said. “Where will we find it from? That’s why I ask for a work session.”

Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar said a total of more than $1.3 million in projects was approved and waiting to start construction. The city’s share in those construction expenses is approximately $350,000.

“With that said, projects range from 2014 to current, so when others get started, it may be two years down the road,” Dollar said.

However, approximately $175,000 will be needed in the next month, Dollar said.

“After speaking with (Assistant City Clerk Wendy McClain), capital improvement money has been spoken for and tied to other projects,” Dollar said.

City Clerk Donnie Holloway said most of the invoices and currently due funds could be paid from the originally intended accounts, but approximately $14,000 would need to be borrowed from either another city account or from an outside source.

Holloway said a six-month loan could float the payments in the short run.

“I’m against taking a loan because you have to pay it back, and we have too may loans as it is,” Holloway said.

The board moved to make immediate payments from the community development fund, and called the special work session to decide how future payments would be made.

Aldermen areed to pay invoices for ongoing projects on the St. Catherine Street Trails project, the toll booth colonnades, renovations at Duncan Park, the senior citizen center, the exterior of the Mississippi River Valley Railroad Depot, North Natchez Drainage and the Auburn kitchen dependency and water intrusion mitigation projects.

Community development director James Johnston said many of the city payments would be reimbursed by grant funding.

Natchez Mayor Butch Brown, who attended a board meeting for the first time in months Tuesday as he recovers from a series of light strokes, advocated for borrowing money from outside the city accounts.

The low interest rates make this a good time to borrow money, he said, and the bonds would allow the city to pay the money gradually.

“To me, it’s six one, half dozen the other,” Brown said.

Borrowing the money would allow the city to pay it back more slowly, he said.

Brown also advocated for borrowing money to finish repairs on Auburn, the antebellum house owned by the city.

“While we’re this close to finishing Auburn, I’d like to see us make a simple loan for five years; to go ahead and finish this project while we’re on it, instead of dropping it and trying to restart it again,” Brown said. “This work will put Auburn back in tip-top condition.”

City attorney Hyde Carby said the current administration would not be allowed to borrow money between April 1 and the upcoming elections.

“If it’s got any ramifications as to the amount we’re borrowing and time left in current administration, we need to weigh that against it,” Brown said.

Brown said Natchez’s debt is relatively low compared to other municipalities.

“We don’t owe much of anything to anybody,” Brown said. “We’re not floating in money, but we are floating in cash flow right now … that means, money in and money out. And I’m about money in.”

In other news

– McClain said the city’s outside auditor, Deanne Tanksley with the Gillon Group, hopes to present a finished 2013-2014 city audit at the board’s next meeting on March 8.

“(Tanksley) thinks she can get 2015 by June and be back on track,” McClain said.

– The board met for approximately an hour in executive session to discuss personnel matters at the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Natchez Police Department. It was unclear if the discussion centered on a recent personnel dispute with the CVB staff and the wife of CVB executive director Kevin Kirby.

– City Attorney Hyde Carby said he had intended to update the board on the matter of Ball vs. City of Natchez, an ongoing lawsuit against the city concerning the board’s handling of the historic railroad depot.

Carby said he was told the board did not have time to hear that report in the executive session.