NATCHEZ &045;&045; One-third into its budget year, the City of Natchez has taken and spent just one-fourth of its projected general fund revenues.

But that’s about where the city’s finances were at this time last year, despite a decline in sales tax revenues, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said.

As of mid-January &045;&045; when the city receives its monthly sales tax revenues from the state &045;&045; the city had taken in almost $2.943 million for and spent $2.83 million from the general fund, which pays for almost all government services.

Those revenues included a $500,000 borrowed by the city each year in anticipation of ad valorem taxes, Holloway said.

The bad news: as of mid-January, when the city received its sales tax revenues from November, sales taxes were down 0.29 percent from the same month last year.

That’s better than December, when sales tax revenues were down 4.35 percent &045;&045; but such revenues are still down 2.38 percent for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

Tammi Gardner, executive director of the Natchez Downtown Development Association, was perplexed by the fall in sales tax revenues.

&uot;It seems like last Christmas (2003) a lot of retailers had the best Christmas many of them had ever had,&uot; Gardner said.

With regard to downtown sales, she said, &uot;it seems like the IP fallout never happened.&uot;

Gardner was referring to the closing, in July 2003, of International Paper’s Natchez mill, which left more than 600 people out of work and sent ripples through the Miss-Lou’s economy.

&uot;Maybe those people finally moved away,&uot; Gardner said. &uot;But I’ve seen where throughout the U.S. sales were down for Christmas. People were buying more at discount stores.&uot;

The decline in sales tax figures reemphasizes the importance of locals shopping at home, Gardner said.

At the same time, food and lodging taxes were up 4.77 percent in January versus the same month last year and are up 2.38 percent for the fiscal year.

Although no figures were available as of press time, County Administrator Charles Brown said both Adams County revenues and expenditures are on track for the fiscal year so far.