The City of Natchez is facing some serious growing pains. The city is not necessarily growing in terms of population, but rather the city’s leadership is being forced to grow up.

And it’s time for city leaders to put on their big boy and big girl pants and get down to business.

We have been critical of the lackadaisical attitude that previous boards of aldermen have taken toward the city’s spending and budgeting process.

In some years, for example, past city administrations simply rubber-stamped the previous year’s budget. Their plan was to fix any issues throughout the year. Not exactly a good plan.

The current board of aldermen, with three first-year aldermen, faces righting a listing financial ship.

A recent series of back-to-back financial foul-ups have raised the level of concern among residents.

All eyes are on City Hall as leaders work to balance the budget for the new fiscal year — at a time when expected revenues are terribly difficult to predict.

Many issues have been put on the table, from cutting their own salaries and privatizing some city services to eliminating step pay raises and forcing employees to pay for a portion of their own health care benefits.

The decisions city leaders now face are no different than the decisions facing small and large business owners in the area.

Cutting someone’s pay (even your own), freezing wages or cutting out jobs is not fun. No one likes to make such decisions, but good leaders know when those decisions need to be made and they make them swiftly to avoid prolonging the problems.

Natchez needs not only a balanced budget on paper but also one that truly will be balanced in real life, based on conservative revenue projections. But to get there, our city leaders need to show some leadership — soon.