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photo by Adam Koob
Natchez Police Officer Bill Mitchell looks for drugs outside an abandoned trailer on Daisy Street. City leaders are looking at ways of trimming the city budget including freezing hiring or laying off personnel.
City considers layoffs in face of budget cuts
Published Saturday, March 7, 2009
NATCHEZ — Current economic conditions mean city officials are preparing for budget cuts, and layoffs may be an option.
Tax revenue increased in the first quarter but is projected to be lower in the second quarter, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said.
And now city leaders believe the effects of the national recession are headed to Natchez.
Officials agree — it’s time to tighten up.
In the first quarter of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the City of Natchez has spent approximately $3.57 million of the $13.45 million budget it adopted in September.
The city does not have a quarterly budget, so there is no way of knowing if it’s overspending its budget.
However, if the city spends as much in each quarter as it did in the first quarter, the city will be over budget by the end of the fiscal year.
But Holloway said many first-quarter expenses have been one-time expenditures, including a $460,000 bill for insurance.
In the first quarter of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, $3.39 million of the $13.41 million budget was spent.
The current expenditures have some city officials worried.
“We’re spending money like we’re not in a recession,” Alderman James “Ricky” Gray said.
City Engineer David Gardner said the city has been trimming the budget all 16 years he’s been a city employee, and more cuts will be difficult.
He said there is hardly anything left to cut.
“We’re down to the hard decisions now,” Gardner said. “Those decisions have been avoided for so long.”
Those hard decisions begin with looking at making cuts in personnel, he said.
“When you’re in the economy we’re in now, those kinds of decisions will more than likely have to be made.”
Holloway and Mayor Jake Middleton agreed the first place to trim is personnel.
“Personnel is our biggest expenditure,” Holloway said.
For example, the police department’s overall budget is $2,749,734.
Payroll expenditures in the police department are $1,677,528, and with benefits, payroll makes up 60 percent of the department’s budget.
Add in retirement, insurance and Medicare, and the number rounds out to $2,083,864. The rest of the police department’s budget is spent on gas, utilities, ammunition, uniforms and other essentials.
Typically personnel costs are 60 percent of any department’s budget, Holloway said.
“The first thing anybody ever cuts is personnel,” Middleton said.
Middleton said he plans to caution his department heads that budget cuts are coming. He said he is considering telling them to start informally evaluating their employees so that if personnel cuts have to be made, they’ll be ready.
Hiring freezes are an option too, the mayor said.
Right now the city is not creating new positions outside of the budget, but if a position is vacated, it might not be filled.
“It may come at the end of this (second) quarter that we may say if someone leaves, you won’t replace them,” Middleton said.
Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins said one of his officers is being called to active military duty.
Mullins wants to hold open the position for when the officer returns, not freeze it. The last thing he wants to do is cut services, he said.
“If you cut a police officer, you’re cutting services,” Mullins said. “To do what we’re doing and provide the service we’re providing, we have to have these people. I’m not going to cut services as long as I have the money in the budget to provide the services.”
The city anticipated high gas prices for the fiscal year and budgeted $174,720 for police department fuel.
In the first quarter, the police department spent $7,117.21 in fuel.
But Mullins said he needs the excess money not spent on gas for other needs.
“(Cutting that money) wouldn’t be feasible,” he said. “There are areas where I need to move money from the fuel budget into other areas, things that have come up.”
Mullins said if the board allows it, he would like to move excess fuel money to his equipment line item.
Mullins said the money could be used to buy stop sticks for patrol cars, Tasers and the money could also go toward any computers that crash.
“We have equipment needs every year,” he said.
Other city departments spend money in a similar pattern — much of the budget goes to salaries and utilities.
Gray said he would cut personnel as a last resort and believes other cuts could be made first.
“If it’s going to get that tight, before we layoff some people there are other options,” he said. “If you try to hold onto personnel, then you’re going to have to cut in other places — maybe cell phones.”
The city distributes approximately 30 cell phones to various city officials.
Gray said with some departments, cell phones are necessary — fire, police, public works, inspection — but in others they are not.
A one-month cell phone bill for Middleton, Holloway, the city hall mail runner, the grants coordinator and the data processor is between $400 and $500.
“When we had our budget hearing, I brought up cell phones once or twice every meeting,” Gray said.
Holloway said he does not know how much money the city would save overall if it cut all cell phones.
The police department has 11 cell phones, and the city pays $39 a month per phone.
If the city cut all police cell phones, it would save $5,148 each year.
Gray said another area to cut could be the city cars that are driven home by city officials.
The police department sends 13 city cars home with various police officials.
If each police official puts five miles on the car each day driving to and from work at $1.30 per gallon, the cost would be $1,098.50 each year.
“If the budget gets tight, everyone other than the chief and commander might have to drive to work, get their vehicle and drive back,” Gray said.
Dillard, who is on the city’s finance committee along with Gray, Holloway and Middleton, said it is important to separate necessary spending from what he calls discretionary spending.
Dillard said travel is example of discretionary spending.
“I’ve tried to identify (discretionary spending) in each department,” he said. “It was our intention to clamp down on those for the first quarter.”
In the first quarter, $2,856.70 has been spent on aldermen travel.
No matter what the cuts may be, all officials agree serious discussion needs to happen.
Gray said the newly formed finance committee is supposed to meet monthly, but hasn’t been doing so.
Gray said he doesn’t know why the meetings aren’t regular.
Dillard said there have been no meetings because the city has a lot of “irons in the fire.”
The mayor said the committe has not been meeting on a regular basis but has met a few times.
Holloway also said the committee is not meeting regularly, and said he’s waiting on the mayor to call a meeting.
Dillard said a meeting is penciled in for the second quarter, but a date hasn’t been finalized.
It’s important to be on top of the budget — always, but especially now, Gray said.
He said it is essential to keep an eye on the budget and to try to be on top of it.
“It’s better to know what’s going on than to start reacting to every situation that comes before us,” he said.
He said he’s ready to re-evaluate the budget.
“I have some serious concerns, and I can’t wait until we meet again.”
Comments
Posted by rushinghjr (anonymous) on March 7, 2009 at 11:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a taxpayer, the Citizens of Natchez definately need the NPD and the NFD fully staffed with very adequate funds. The City leaders need to look at this very conservately, but remember that the NPD and the NFD are the "Backbone" against the Criminal Element today! The cell phones and the use of the units are really not much to consider in a time of Emergencies! If the economic situation gets "BAD" in Natchez, the taxpayers and Property Owners definately need the NPD and the NFD!
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 12:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When they start laying off NPD and NFD,many more problems are on the way fast.
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 12:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We still see all kinds of strangers and transients walking the roads and roaming the streets regularly. I hope they keep what they have instead of cutting law enforcement and fire protection.
Posted by honeybee74 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 12:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
wasn't there just alot of new officers hired? i see police every where in natchez (riding) burning that fuel. i myself am a business owner and sometimes have to have people removed from my business. these new officers are called and don't even know the area they are responding to and tell us they can't arrest a person we have pressed charges on and banned. so how are they doing there job if they don't even know whats going on. had it been one of the other officers we know to our area that person would have been arrested for tresspassing. we have alot of good officers but some don't know up from down!!!!!this town is getting worse and worse people lossing jobs turning to welfare and wonder why we are in such an economic bind. it dosen't make since. if alot of this assitance wasn't given especially to those that are being fradulent we wouldn't be in the shape we are. Lord be with us. because u are the only one that can intervene.
Posted by NtzMom55 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 12:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Consolidate the governing bodies and use the money saved to keep the law enforcement officers on duty. (Consolidating the Board of Supervisors and Aldermen). Also, when a crew of city workers go out to work on a project, why does it take 2 men to work while 4 stand around and watch them work?
Posted by EnKiKur (Marty Ellerbe) on March 8, 2009 at 1:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Last year's annual report for the City of Natchez said expenditures for Culture and Recreaton were over $7 million, more than for Public Safety. That might be an excellent place to go bare bones.
Posted by belowpar (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 6:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
EnKiKur, I agree 100%. Recreation should be the FIRST cuts, not law enforcement or the fire dept.
Posted by northpearl (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 7:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There will not be any quick solutions. Maybe the Board should start with the Mayor's Car and move next to the dead weight in the Planning Office. It is normally fairly simple math, if you do not have the money you do not spend it. Our local governments and citizens need to realize that they need to move beyond this entitlement mentality. There will not always be another check in the mail. Match the expenses with the income.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't reckon anyone will become concerned that we have the highest paid aldermen in Mississippi. By their own vote, of course.
Posted by Crabbe (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 8:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Before laying off anyone make sure you find personal to clean up the grass that grows in the medians of the streets. The grass and dead grass that greets our visitors give the distinct impression that this is a dying town. Housekeeping is essential to get new business and keep the old ones. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS
Posted by babev1 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It would be a big mistake to cut the NPD because crime is so bad in Natchez The City wants you to think the crime is on the down fall but it is on the RISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The City Officals need to take a pay cut and stop give themselves a raise and that would REALY HELP THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by traceb (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You are right. Politics has nothing to do with common sense. It is a time where everyone should work together and harder. Get up off your "duffs" folks and figure this out.
Posted by Teach4Peace (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Overly bloated salaries of do nothing employees can be lessened to keep the force strong at NPD. The last thing cities need right now is to lessen its law enforcement. I am sure if a good look were taken into some of these salaries of the directors, etc., a pay cut wouldn't kill some. Let's face it, nationwide there are people collecting salaries where it is not nearly comparable to the work they actually do.
Posted by reneef (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree cuts should not come from the NPD and NFD personnel. But I don't understand why the City, NPD etc get cars to drive home. I want a job that gives me a car and a cell phone but wanting and getting are two different things.
I also thing they should use the NPD and ACSO prisoners to clean the roadways. Jail shouldn't be easy. It should be punishment.
Posted by msfixit (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've got a better idea than cutting protective services: eliminate all travel for the mayor and board, and cut board salaries to a maximum of $100 per month. These guys are supposed to be public SERVANTS, not pigs at the public trough.
Posted by SayItRight (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Take a look at those cell phone plans and see if someone else can provide it cheaper. How much of the cost of the cell phone bills are city business related as compared to personal?
Posted by callaspadeaspade (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I also believe that luxury items should be amongst the first things cut. I am sure that city workers would still obtain vehicles and cell phones if their jobs didn't provide them. Also, we have witnessed how wasteful some city leaders have been as far as travel expenditures are concerned, so that budget needs to be tightened and reconsidered. Lastly, I agree that there is a lot of "riding around" and "standing around" that many of us see going on by city workers around Ntz. Some of the big dogs need to have the insight to know that their high, sometimes not deserving salaries are taking away from things that are vital to this city.
Posted by reneef (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think some City Officials deserve full salaries because the job is full time but for those officials that are full time and can therefore keep their regular job..they should get a small token pymt fo rthe job and that is it.
Posted by barbarj1 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 10:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
northpearl is right. We have to use our own cars and gas to get to work why should any other city or county office be any different.
Posted by knowsthefacts (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 10:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To save money in the downtown area, perhaps some of the police officers should be on bicycles to patrol the streets. This will keep them physically fit, save gas and be a constant sight to ward off daylight crime. Of course, at night, you would have to go back to autos because of vehicle danger to the officer.
Posted by NtzMom55 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's "crunch time". Auction off all the vehicles used by the local 'upper government' officials and have them use their own vehicles. It's time for elected officials to stop taking tax payers for every thing they can milk us for. They seem to take on the mentality of having everyone bow down to them. They are public servants, not royalty!!!!
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Follow the money and cut out the deadheads
Posted by destiny (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe if the city would find a good, hard, honest working person, M/F who has been laid off, due to this budget crunch, with children to feed and house payments to keep a roof over their heads, standing in line for employment, welfare, food stamps, etc, and put him/her in charge of whittling the budget, they'd whittle it down in a flash. There are many out here that can do the job and it wouldn't take a king's ransom to get the job done. Too much to expect? NO. As I said, too many to chose from. And, of course, (this should go without being said) not relative to, or connected in any way with the one's presently in charge.
Posted by lowrider (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
They need to lay off some of the idiots in high positions and leave the NPD and NFD alone.
Posted by jack (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 1:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
natchez needs to get like all the other places in our area and get some reserve officers that will work for free adams county and concordia parish has them and this is certified officers that can work and save natchez some money the NPD use to do it but said they could not because of insurance that was 30 years ago and now the state certifies these people and trains them to do a job in law enforcement wake up natchez and smell the roses it is people out here that will help you instead of cutting services i know adams co does and all the agencies in concordia have reserves and it seems to help them the last thing that needs to be cut in natchez is police and fire
maybe natchez needs a volunteer board of alderman and cutting a cell phone is crazy what will not save in the long run when yu need to make contact with someone i guess you want to mail them a letter or tell them to stay at the office all day when they need to be out working
Posted by reneef (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 2:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In some cases cutting the cell phones would be a problem but least we all forget, it was not that long ago that none of us had cell phones and we managed just fine. The NPD and ACSO all have radios. I believe most of the public works vehicles have radio's as well.
Posted by gunther57 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 6:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
how in the world can GREY be the police commissioner and the only budget he wants to cut is the people that he is supposed to represent on the CRAPPY board of aldermen that we have in this town. NEWS FLASH CUT THE FAT IN YOUR OWN POCKET!!!!!!!!
Posted by snatchez (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 6:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
posting late but the solution is cut some of the cars. the mayor has one, recreation has one, city engineer has about five, etc.
Posted by escapee (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 7:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How about having the mayor, aldermen, and county supervisors work like two or three days less a month? For like a 5% pay cut each.
They would get time off, and the money saved could pay for a police officer and a fire fighter or two.
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 7:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I say the board of aldermen lay themselves off. They and Jake can take a pay cut BEFORE THE FIRST member of PD or FD are let go. We need them. We can do without Jake and crew for a long time and probably be better off. Then da rev marvel can hold onto his race card without doing a Cleavon Little and his "Scuse me while I pull dis out" act.
Posted by steve_o (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Posted by snatchez (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 6:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
posting late but the solution is cut some of the cars. the mayor has one, recreation has one, city engineer has about five, etc.
I'm usually seeing a Ntz recreation vehicle coming from Ferriday area all the way across the bridge to Ntz. It's a gray crown vic with a government tag and "recreation dept" painted on the side of it! This is every morning between 7:30 and 8:00 am
Posted by musicman02 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 9:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My personal opinion is that if you are looking to save and cut,start at the top of city government. We are paying for trips that do not bring any results.
Posted by olderthandirt (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My 'beef' is that it irritates me to no end to see city owned vehicles at WM and other area stores....usually after working hours.And if it is true someone lives in Ferriday, they should certainly be using their OWN vehicle to get to work.It wouldn't hurt ALL employees to use their own vehicles.I have to.The city doesn't pay for my gas.
Posted by honeybee74 (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
well i don't understand why it takes 2 or 3 police cars to pull one car over anyway. i see this all the time. they need that much backup. come on. i listen to the scanner all the time and when one little thing happens here comes 10 cops. what. come on then what are they doing over looking the other crimes going on in natchez. crime will be something that is always fought crime isn't going anywhere. they (police) might lessen it but for every 10 being sent to prison for crimes committed 25 are coming out of prison. natchez is always going to be this way cause half the real crooks get away with anything and never serve a lick of time. i know i see it every day.... we do have some good officers but there are some new ones that need to get there stuff together or get more training before they just give them a badge. anyone could go to police school around here and come out with a badge. come on...hats off to those that take pride in being an officer though....thanks for all your help.
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What good came out of the 7 million spent?
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 8, 2009 at 11:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why should any city or county officals be provided transportation unless it specifically pertained to their job duties? I have never understood that reasoning.
Posted by Omega (anonymous) on March 9, 2009 at 9:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is late but I had trouble logging in. honeybee74 I understand exactly what you are talking about in both posts. However, the MAIN reason for all of the rookie officers is the low pay. For some reason, the aldermen think they need to link their pay to the pay of a starting patrolman. Yes, for 2 meetings per month the aldermen make as much as a starting patrolman. It seems strange because none of the aldermen fight drunks into a patrol car. None of them knows how to handle a domestic disturbance. None of them understands the dangers involved with what most people see as a “simple traffic stop”. The reason we have so many new officers is that many experienced officers left to go to ACSO or other departments that have much better pay. Brookhaven pays their officers more than Natchez. McComb pays their officers more than Natchez and their aldermen make less than $10,000 / year. In addition, our mayor is one of the highest paid in the state. Many of you are right. Start cutting the pay of the big wig city officials and stop trying to spend all that money on this trail that’s been talked about so much recently. If NPD officers are laid off I think you will see a BIG backlash when other officers, that are already working short handed (they need 4 new officers, one per shift) get sick from this bug that’s going around. Think about one or two days when you call the police no one is there to come to your aid. It will be every man for himself. Oh boy, what fools have we elected. Mr. Gray has always been a want to be thug and has delusions of grander. By the way honnybee74 it’s a tossup every year nationwide for what officers do that results in the most injury or death among police officers. Family disturbances and traffic stops battle it out for 1 & 2 most years. I've said it before and I'll say it again now, Pay Police Like Your Life Depends on it, Because when you stop and think about it, it does.
Posted by momof1 (anonymous) on March 9, 2009 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I totally agree. It's the management that's ususally well overpaid and underworked. I was eating a late lunch the other day and noticed a recently elected area official enjoying a nice long lunch, just shooting the bull for an extended period of time, long after they were through eating. It's amazing how quickly they get used to their new posititions and begin to take advantage. I know this guy should have his plate VERY full and should have been at the office working !
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on March 9, 2009 at 11:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It,s not a big deal. Natchez will be bust in a few years and have nothing to pay anybody.
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