NATCHEZ — Visitors who travel to Natchez next year for the city’s 300th birthday may have a bumpier ride than city leaders had hoped.

After discovering that the city had been budgeting the incorrect amount for city employee health insurance costs, the Natchez Board of Aldermen voted to retract $350,000 from its street paving budget.

The street-paving project, which would have been the city’s second round of road repairs for 2015, was targeted for downtown streets — namely Broadway Street.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, who advocated for the road repairs, said other downtown streets — such as Commerce and Pearl streets — are in need of attention, too.

“I think our streets are important, but making sure we can pay our employees’ insurance costs is just as important,” she said. “We need to make sure we have enough money to pay for that.”

The city was budgeting $220 per employee per month for health care when it should have been budgeting $587.

With a rise in health care costs forecasted for the 2015-2016 year, the city is now projected to budget approximately $600 per month.

After learning about the city’s decision to nix it’s second round of streets repairs, Billy Tanksley, who lives at 503 N. Pearl Street, said he was disappointed.

“I’ve been seeing the city paving other streets, and I’ve been wondering when it would be our turn,” Tanksley said. “Cracks in the street are a big eyesore, especially in a tourist town.”

A few doors down from Tanksley’s house, the uneven payment and cracks at the intersection of North Pearl and Monroe streets show years’ worth of use.

Tanksley said he’s not too concerned about the street’s condition now, but come 2016 — the city’s tricentennial year — it might be a problem.

“If you drive down these streets, you’re going to see some potholes,” Arceneaux-Mathis said.

Once the city approves its 2015-2016 budget, Arceneaux-Mathis said the board might be able to revisit making more road repairs in the downtown area.

“We just have to work with what we have right now and what we can afford to do,” she said.