NATCHEZ — The turnout for Thursday’s public hearing on the Adams County Budget surprised even veteran supervisors.

No members of the public attended the meeting.

Supervisor Thomas “Boo” Campbell said in 20 years as a supervisor, Thursday’s meeting was the first budget forum in which no one showed up.

Since there were no county residents to question the supervisors, the meeting was quite brief.

Board members said they were pleased with the outcome of the budget.

Board President Henry Watts said he was especially pleased since the board was able to give some pay raises, hire new employees, purchase new equipment and even have a tax reduction.

However Campbell said none of those accomplishments came easily.

“It sounds hunky dory now but there was a lot of fighting,” he said he said of the budget’s development.

County administrator Cathy Walker said the stressful nature of making the budget came from a through inspection of each line item done by the supervisors.

“It was stressful,” she said. “But I think they all learned a lot.”

And for Watts the completion of the budget also meant the realization of a personal goal.

When the supervisors began to work on the budget weeks ago Watts said his mission was to lower taxes in the county — and it happened.

While the reduction of one mill will not amount to much for the average citizen, Watts said he is hoping for more tax decreases next year.

For weeks, Watts said the decrease was coming from cuts made in the budget and new homes and business added to the tax roll.

However on Thursday Walker and Watts said there were actually so many additions to the budget that they virtually cancelled out any cuts made.

While Watts has still not revealed figures on how much was cut from the budget he did say no departments received substantial cuts and no programs were eliminated.

The county’s budget is roughly $3.6 million higher this year than the previous budget year.

For the next fiscal year the county will be operating with a budget of $27,432,773.

The fattening of the budget came from the Rentech land deal, about $2.7 million, and another $1 million the county recently received from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The MDOT money can only be used for right of way acquisitions on a land project Watts said.

Watts said the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and the Adams County Road Crew account for the two biggest expenses for the budget.

Of the budget there are two entities that both stake a big claim on that $27 million.

The ACSO budget accounts for $3.2 million and runs the sheriff’s office, the jail and provides the courthouse with security.

The road department accounts for little more than $3 million, Watts said.

Walker said many of the budget increases came from mandatory raises and utility increases.

The board’s next public forum on the budget is on Sept. 15.

The board is also scheduled to approve the budget at the meeting.