NATCHEZ &8212; The biggest issue at the Adams County Board of Supervisors&8217; Monday budget meeting was how to avoid taxes.

The challenge is to provide county departments with the money they need while avoiding raising the millage rate, a property tax increase, as they did last year.

County Administrator Cathy Walker and Assistant Administrator Charlie Brown compiled budget requests, and almost every department requested an increase.

&8220;This is a preliminary review that gives us an idea of where to go,&8221; Walker said.

She and Brown did not have a total for requests for budgets because they were still waiting on a few departments, she said. Walker and Brown also reduced some of the requests before they presented them to the board, she said.

Supervisor S. E. &8220;Spanky&8221; Felter said he favored simply giving each department the amount they received last year.

&8220;I say we cut the (increases for) services we don&8217;t need,&8221; Felter said. &8220;We cannot raise taxes again this year.&8221;

President Darryl Grennell said, while he wanted to avoid raising taxes, the board should continue evaluating each department&8217;s needs.

&8220;You&8217;ve got to adopt a realistic budget,&8221; Grennell said.

The board informally agreed to decline most requests in the interest of saving money and avoiding more taxes.

The Sheriff&8217;s office has one of the biggest chunks of the budget, and their requests were a big topic of discussion.

One of the issues was employing two deputies to guard Juvenile Court. One of the employees is certified and one is not, which saves money, Sheriff Ronny Brown said.

The two are currently paid from the Sheriff&8217;s budget. The office requested their salaries be taken into account for next year&8217;s budget.

The combined salaries, including benefits, total $66,680. The board unofficially rejected including funds in the new budget for the two deputies.

Discussion on the budget will likely continue through the week, Walker said, and it will be a while before anything is final.

In other business, in an executive session, Grennell said after the meeting:

4 The board voted to help finance a Natural Resource Conservation Service dam to be built off Liberty Road. The $1 million project will mostly be funded by federal and state money. The county agreed to pay $25,000 toward the project through engineering and legal fees.

4 The board voted 4-1 to lease Rentech, Inc., the Bellwood property with an option to purchase the land at a later time. The board only gave its approval, with details to be worked out in a lease. Supervisor Henry Watts voted against it because he wanted more concrete details, Grennell said.