NATCHEZ &8212; Many city departments are struggling to guess what they can afford this budget year.

About a month after the board of aldermen passed a city budget &8212; identical to last year&8217;s with the exception of salary increases &8212; the budget still looks the same.

At the time they passed the budget, the board agreed to look at each department&8217;s budget requests in detail.

The Public Works Department, for example, does not know exactly how much it will receive to keep up the roads and the city&8217;s vehicles.

&8220;The main thing is, purchasing is held to a limit,&8221; Director Ronnie Ivey said. &8220;We don&8217;t know what we&8217;re going to be able to do up the road.&8221;

Public works handles city vehicles, Ivey said, so they buy parts and maintain equipment. Right now, he said, they don&8217;t know how much they will be able to buy.

&8220;It delays things,&8221; he said. &8220;You really don&8217;t know if you spend if you&8217;re going to get the request you asked for.&8221;

One request the department made this year was for a new street sweeper to replace the older machine.

&8220;The old one is like a giant dust pan and broom,&8221; he said. &8220;It just sweeps things aside. The new one vacuums and picks things up and is more efficient. We&8217;ve put in for it, but we don&8217;t know if we&8217;re going to get it yet.&8221;

He has had bids for the machine already, he said, but the companies will have to re-bid because it has been so long the bids are no longer accurate.

&8220;And it takes three to four months to build these trucks,&8221; Ivey said. &8220;If we were told today, it would still be February before we get it. It really puts a strain on us.&8221;

The uncertainty puts a strain on the recreation department, too, Director Ralph Tedder said.

&8220;We&8217;ve asked for funding to renovate a lot of the projects where parts are starting to deteriorate and playground updates,&8221; Tedder said.

The department&8217;s maintenance equipment is old and run-down, he said, so they are trying to acquire new equipment.

&8220;Using last year&8217;s numbers, we can&8217;t, and we spend more money on maintaining the old equipment,&8221; he said. &8220;It will hurt the users. That&8217;s a big concern.&8221;

Along with basic maintenance, the department requested funding for a couple big projects they hope to work on, he said, but right now, they&8217;re working to stay afloat.

&8220;We&8217;re just trying to keep the status quo, and that&8217;s going to be difficult,&8221; he said.

City Building Inspector Paul Dawes said his department only asked for minor increases in next year&8217;s budget. Even so, he said, it was hard to plan ahead when he was not sure what his department would receive.

&8220;If you&8217;re taking on anything new, when the revenues for the city are variable, it&8217;s difficult to nail down what will be available for you to work with,&8221; Dawes said. &8220;We&8217;ll play it by ear with what we know we had in the past. I think department heads by and large do very well working within their budgets.&8221;

Tourism Director Walter Tipton said so far, gauging expenses was not difficult, because it was only the first month of the new budget year.

&8220;For the most part, I budget based on the prior year&8217;s actual expenses,&8221; Tipton said.

He was optimistic about allocations his department might receive.

&8220;They&8217;re projecting more funds to be available to us than last year,&8221; he said.

Any extra funds would be useful for possible projects, like paving a grassy area for parking or buying a marquis sign for the convention center.

Mayor Phillip West had said he would discuss in Tuesday&8217;s alderman meeting setting a time to look at the budget. Because they lacked a majority, or quorum, the board was unable to meet Tuesday, after two aldermen walked out because of a discussion over the lease of city land under Roth Hill.

Previously, West said, several board members were out of town on days when others were available.

The board would look at approving what was requested beyond last year&8217;s allocations, he said.