Once again the City of Natchez finds itself between a financial rock and a hard place.

Natchez aldermen voted Tuesday to borrow up to $1 million to help the city pay its bills for the next three to four months until property tax bills begin being paid.

We’ve been griping about the city’s horrendous finances for years. It’s apparently the equivalent of screaming into the howling wind of a thunderstorm.

Natchez aldermen — several administrations of them — have effectively said, “Man, the financials are horrible. Someone needs to get to the bottom of the problem.” Then they proceed to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to bridge the financial gap.

Then the process repeats itself, again and again and again and again.

This cycle of financial mayhem must end.

City taxpayers deserve to have their hard-earned tax dollars more carefully tended than city leaders have shown capable of in the past several years.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell has pledged the city will operate with complete transparency.

We applaud that approach, but we need follow-through this year.

City leaders must not stop digging until the public fully understands where all tax dollars are going. Only then can citizens let leaders know if they are happy with how that money is being spent.