NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees voted Friday to submit its ad valorem tax request to the Adams County Board of Supervisors three days before deadline.

Business and Finance Manager Monica Anderson said the request is approximately $56,000 less than had been previously advertised. Anderson said this is because she had not received the estimated ad valorem tax information on the new property on the county’s tax rolls.

The district is requesting $13,331,636 from the county, which is a 3.5-percent increase from the previous fiscal year, or a total of $450,828.26. The district had previously been seeking a 4-percent increase.

The trustees unanimously approved the tax request with Thelma Newsome and Benny Wright absent.

On July 27, the board unanimously approved the district’s 2016-17 budget of approximately $40 million.

The school district is projecting to spend approximately $19 million on instruction and $16 million on support services.

In other news, the district moved a 60-percent day originally scheduled for May 25, 2017, to Oct. 28 to accommodate students and staff for homecoming.

May 25, the final day of school, would become a full day of instruction.

“In reality, I feel like this will make attendance better,” Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher said. “If they know they are only being sent for a half day, they know they will have more of the day to work on floats.

“Homecoming is really a lot of work, especially for the people at the high school.”

– All custodian positions in the district have been filled. Trustees opted to internalize the custodian staff to help decrease turnover and save approximately $20,000 compared to contractor Service Master, which was let go in June. Service Master managed custodial staff for a few of the district’s schools.

– Trustees voted to open up a third line at the Natchez High School cafeteria to help make its operations more efficient. Butcher said as the district is only moving people around to fill the slots, it will not cost anything extra.