NATCHEZ — The Adams County supervisors found themselves sniffing out a problem Monday morning that was lying right under their noses.

Johnny Williams, a member of the Adams County maintenance crew, reported at Monday’s budget meeting that there are four Dumpsters in the county for which the county pays for pick up, and one is behind the board of supervisors’ building.

District 5 Supervisor S.E. “Spanky” Felter said he thinks the county paying an estimated $18,000 for the annual garbage pickup at those four locations is too much and could be reduced.

However, Board President Darryl Grennell said, that estimate is based on the number of pickups per location each week, and since the Adams County Sheriff’s Department dumps food waste in the Dumpster behind the board’s building, it gets emptied five days per week, increasing its cost in upkeep.

Felter said in District 5, he’s getting as many as 96 trash collections a year — or two pickups a week — throughout a mobile home park and paying the company he’s using approximately $2,300. So there should be a cheaper rate for the county, as well, he said.

“We need to call Waste Management and (different companies) and say we have these Dumpsters, and let them know what’s going on,” he said. “We’ll save money per year.”

In other news:

• The supervisors said they would appropriate the $119,262 the Mississippi Department of Health requested for the upcoming fiscal year — the same amount the department requested last year.

District 2 Supervisor Henry Watts said he’d like to know whether the department had spent all of the money the board allocated during the last fiscal year, as he had not seen any sort of report, but he said he felt that they were an established entity and felt comfortable approving their request.

• The Mississippi Department of Mental Health requested an appropriation of $77,143, which showed no increase in requested funds from the 2010-2011 fiscal year, according to County Administrator Joe Murray, and the supervisors said they would appropriate that amount.

• The Natchez branch of the Red Cross requested an increase of approximately $3,000 in funds for an overall appropriation of $8,000.

However, the board said they would appropriate the same amount as last year — $5,000.

The board said they would also deny Alcorn State Farmer’s Market an increase in appropriations from $2,500 to $2,750. Instead, they said they would appropriate the same $2,500 as they did for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Felter said he was hesitant to say he would increase any appropriations before he’s had a chance to hear from the sheriff’s department about what sorts of increases it might need for the upcoming year, lest increasing other agencies’ appropriations lead to raising citizens’ taxes.