NATCHEZ — Natchez has maintained steady total tax revenues over the past five years despite the loss of several well-known businesses, including JC Penny and Kmart, an examination of the city’s tax records shows.

Tax revenue figures provided by the Natchez City Clerk’s office show the city’s total tax revenue for fiscal year 2013 — which runs October through September — was $10,189,352.38 and total revenue for fiscal year 2017 was $10,289,339.85.

The intervening years’ revenue has remained relatively stable year over year with fluctuations of a few hundred thousand per year. For instance, for fiscal year 2014 total tax revenue was $10,366,870.09; for fiscal year 2015: $10,801,269.11; for fiscal year: $10,222,647.58.

As of May 31, the city had collected $8,434070.65.

“(The tax revenue) has really stayed on track across the board,” Natchez City Clerk Megan Edmonds said, adding that the city’s push for tourism could have helped keep tax revenue steady despite the loss of several retail stores. “I haven’t seen any big spikes or decreases.”

Edmonds defined a large spike or decrease as being roughly $500,000 increase or decrease in a given year, which was the case between 2014 and 2015.

Between 2014 and 2015, Natchez saw an increase in revenue from about $10.4 million to $10.8 million — however, the revenue dropped back to $10.2 million in 2016.

The increase prior to 2016, Edmonds said, might be, in part, due to promotional efforts for the Natchez Tricentennial — for which the city built up revenue in years prior, Edmonds said.

“There was a huge push in tourism, which would affect our sales tax revenues because there were more people here spending money,” Edmonds said. “But overall (the city has) maintained a fairly level revenue.”

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell credited the community with helping keep the tax revenue stable.

“(The revenue consistency) is good news with respect to the loss of businesses in Natchez,” Grennell said. “We’ve also had a lot of ‘mom and pop’ shops open up. Natchez serves as a (business) hub for the surrounding counties. … Additionally, we have people who come from all over the country and the world to Natchez and spend money.”

Natchez has two primary sources of revenue, ad valorem taxes — which are a percentage of the assessed value of personal property — and sales tax.

“The city receives ad valorem taxes, which are collected, settled and disbursed by the county tax collector,” Edmonds said. “The city also receives sales tax, which is collected settled and disbursed by the state. It is safe to say that the city’s largest revenue source would be these taxes.”

She said the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission also receives a 3 percent and 1.5 percent tourism tax and a “heads on beds” tax, established in 2008, which are also settled and disbursed by the state and then paid directly to the NCPC. In turn, the NCPC gives a portion of what is received from the state back to the city to pay the convention center bond.

Edmonds said a slight fluctuation in revenue is normal because of population changes and businesses either coming to the city or shutting down.

“Now you will see some differences because of the way things are assessed,” Edmonds said. “There could be industries that came and industries that left … like when JC Penny closed down. We didn’t just lose JC Penny. We lost their ad valorem for every rack, every counter — those types of things within the business. We lost their sales revenue and we lost that personal property ad valorem revenue.”

JC Penny — once located in the Natchez Mall — closed its doors in 2014 after the franchise announced the company would close 30 underperforming stores. Kmart made a similar announcement and closed their Natchez location two years later.

Edmonds said losing those retail outlets could either be a result of population decline or corporate issues within the businesses that are outside of the city’s control.

“I don’t know if it was just our census declining (that caused the loss of JC Penny and K-Mart) — people leaving Natchez and not bringing the revenues that their corporate offices needed to see in order to leave them open,” Edmonds said. “Kmart closed down several of their stores nationwide. We were lucky that our Kmart stayed open for as long as it did.”

She said local people traveling out-of-town to shop has a negative impact on the tax-revenue as well.

“They’re going to go after the brands that they want and what’s popular,” Edmonds said. “Over the past 20 years, there has been a slow decline in what our mall and retail stores have had to offer locally, which is a shame. People drive to Baton Rouge, Monroe, Alexandria, Jackson and shop online.”

Debbie Hudson, president and CEO of the Natchez Adams County Chamber of Commerce, said she believes smaller businesses helped offset tax losses from the loss of larger retail businesses such as JC Penny and Kmart and larger industries such as Titan Tire Corporation that closed in 2001 followed by Johns Manville’s roofing and insulation industry in 2002 and the International Paper Mill in 2003 — each of which employed roughly 600 people.

“To be honest, I’m surprised, but I’m happy,” Hudson said of learning the city’s tax revenue had stayed relatively stable over the past five years. “It is the small businesses that make up the difference — 80 to 85 percent of our business community is made up of small businesses.”

Hudson said Grennell has emphasized the need for a downtown director to revitalize the downtown business, and ultimately bring more jobs back to Natchez.

“Darryl mentioned in a meeting that we need to capitalize on tourism and our downtown businesses and economic development,” Hudson said.