When Brookhaven City Clerk Iris Coker Rudman worked up her town’s budget last year, the city board of aldermen asked her to design it three ways: one with a slight tax increase, one with a greater tax increase and one with no tax increase.

Brookhaven aldermen chose the slight tax increase.

&uot;I surely don’t&uot; provide an opinion to aldermen, Rudman said. &uot;I just work up the figures.&uot;

It’s a relationship Rudman — and her Natchez counterpart, outgoing City Clerk Frances Trosclair — say works for them and their cities.

With Natchez’s already four-way city clerk’s race heating up, what a clerk’s duties are have been at issue.

Billy Geoghegan, Donnie Holloway, Peter Rinaldi and Dr. Fredericka Todd are seeking the office.

In his campaign literature, candidate Rinaldi, publisher of Miss-Lou Magazine, has said he is against the city’s raising taxes and annexing county land. Rinaldi said he wants to have a voice in the city’s direction.

But Todd, pointing out that the clerk does not have a vote, has said some people are confusing the role of city clerk with that of an aldermen or the mayor.

And Holloway said voters should focus on who is most qualified to hold the position.

Trosclair, who announced her retirement earlier this year, considers herself a resource for the mayor and board of aldermen.

But she doesn’t think she has influence over their decisions.

&uot;My area primarily deals with budgets and working with department heads,&uot; she said. &uot;I serve as a resource for the mayor and board and work very closely with the mayor and city attorney.&uot;

Rudman and Trosclair are among 10 elected city clerks across the state.

&uot;The role is more of an advisory role,&uot; Rudman said. &uot;I’m a keeper of the records.&uot;

According to the Mississippi Code, the city clerk has a wide range of duties — from keeping minutes of board of aldermen meetings and recording ordinances to managing the city’s money.

The city clerk’s office also manages municipal elections, issues privilege licenses and provides a financial record for the board of aldermen each month.

The Natchez city clerk’s salary is $48,000. Trosclair oversees a staff of five and manages a budget of more than $12 million.

Qualifications for the post, by law, are simple: A candidate must be 18, a registered voter and a resident of Natchez.

But Trosclair believes voters need to look carefully at more important qualifications, such as a candidate’s experience with administration and finance, as well as his or her ability to work well with people.

&uot;The city clerk is the bookkeeper for the City of Natchez,&uot; said Mayor Larry L. &uot;Butch&uot; Brown. &uot;They provide information.&uot;

As for influence, a city clerk has &uot;none whatsoever,&uot; Brown said, &uot;depending on who the clerk is.&uot;

Brown, who has served all eight years in office with Trosclair as city clerk, said she has influence because he and other city officials trust her guidance.

Neither Brown nor Trosclair has chosen anyone to endorse in the city clerk’s race.

But Brown acknowledged there has been political animosity between him and one of the candidates in the past.

&uot;I think it’s generally common knowledge that Rinaldi has thrown some political jabs at me and I’ve on occasion thrown them back,&uot; Brown said.

But the mayor still declined to get involved in the campaign for city clerk. &uot;The first rule of politics is you don’t get into anyone else’s politics,&uot; Brown said.