NATCHEZ — Despite borrowing money to cover payroll expenses this year, the Natchez Board of Aldermen voted 5-1 Tuesday to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year that projects a $2.2 million surplus

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard, who voted against the budget’s adoption, said his main concern with the budget boiled down to lack of confidence with the city clerk’s office.

“If you had to borrow money to make ends meet last year, where is that money going to be recovered in this budget?” Dillard asked.

Proposed total revenues for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, which begins Thursday, are $35.1 million. Proposed expenditures are $32.9 million — leaving a $2.2 million surplus.

The budget for 2013-2014 fiscal year called for $36.3 million in revenues and $33.6 in expenditures — leaving a $2.7 million surplus — at least on paper.

The board has voted twice, however, in the last two months to borrow money to meet city payroll through the end of the fiscal year. The board voted first to take out a loan and then again to make an interfund loan from the city’s casino fund to cover payroll.

“It doesn’t come out zero-zero at the end of the year,” Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Carter Smith said during the meeting, shaking her head.

As a way for the board to stay more informed on city finances, Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis requested the board be notified by the clerk’s office when bank loans are paid.

Assistant City Clerk Wendy McClain said she would start notifying the board.

Ward 2 Alderman Rickey Gray asked Natchez City Clerk Donnie Holloway “how far in the hole” the city was, to date, for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Holloway said the city was approximately $800,000 in debt with its general fund, but that debt would be paid when tax monies come in at the turn of the year.

“I have a huge spreadsheet to make sure when departments pay their loans,” McClain said.

Arceneaux-Mathis said she hopes this budget is something the city can stand by in the upcoming fiscal year.

“Since it has been passed, we need this sealed, stamped, signed and delivered so we can keep this on record,” she said.

The budget has seen at least five revisions, McClain said. Major revisions made to the budget since the board’s last public hearing adjusted the recreation department’s revenues and expenditures, adjusting the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau’s budget to reflect accurate health insurance costs and adjusting the community development fund budget.

“We adjusted some of the revenues and expenditures in the recreation department because they were spending more than they were bringing in,” McClain said.

The recreation department has approximately $633,000 budgeted in expenses for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

After the city incorrectly budgeted for employee health insurance — and a rise in health care costs caused an approximately $228,000 spike in total city employee health insurance costs — McClain said all departments had to adjust their budgeted salaries.

McClain said the clerk’s office also had incorrect figures in its previous proposed budget for the city’s community development fund — an error that Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard pointed out.

That fund was previously budgeted at $1.1 million for the fiscal year, but needed to be at $575,000, McClain said.

In a previous budget work session, the board voted to cut all city department budgets by 5 percent in an effort to cut city expenditures.

Not all departments took that cut though, McClain said.

Departments that didn’t take a full 5-percent cut in the adopted budget, McClain said, were public works, information technology and planning departments.

“Planning and IT didn’t cut anything because they said they were at bare minimum and couldn’t cut anything,” McClain said.

Before the city administered the 5-percent cut, McClain said the IT department had already cut its budget by 3 percent compared to last year’s budget.

The only department that saw an increase compared with last year’s budget was the city’s public works department, which absorbed city engineering services during the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

McClain said public works supervisor Justin Dollar made cuts in his budget where he could, but couldn’t reach the 5-percent mark.

“It was supposed to be across the board,” McClain said. “But there were some departments that had absolutely nowhere to cut.”

In other news from the meeting:

4Before the board adopted the budget, the aldermen met in executive session for approximately 30 minutes to discuss personnel within the mayor’s office.