NATCHEZ, Miss. — Adams County supervisors are doubting they can give the airport $800,000 for the coming year— a 300 percent increase its director says is needed to operate the county-owned facility as it accommodates commercial passenger airline service for the first time in three decades.
The request presented Monday by Natchez-Adams County Airport Director Carl Beasley comes as supervisors are trying to hold the line on spending and give taxpayers relief after onerous property tax increases hit them earlier this year.
United Airlines began last month providing once-a-day flights to and from Natchez-Adams County and Houston’s George Bush Airport. With this enhanced service comes the need for a $600,000 budget increase to operate the county-owned airport, according to the request Beasley submitted to the Adams County Board of Supervisors. The airport had been running this past year with a budget of about $200,000.
Beasley cited additional staffing needs and pay raises – including a $100,000-plus annual salary for airport administrator Mitzi Conn, who previously served as the Adams County board’s chief operating officer until she resigned last month and was hired by Beasley.
In the discussions about how to find more money for the airport, county Supervisor Wes Middleton acknowledged it’s operating “in a whole different class” now to accommodate the commercial passenger jets flying in and out on a daily basis.
While hopes are the airline service will bring more visitors and economic developments for Adams County, Supervisor Kevin Wilson noted that won’t promptly generate direct revenues to operate the airport. Like any new start-up businesses, he said, it takes time for revenues to flow in.
Long-term sources of revenue for the airport mentioned Monday includes more federal or state grants and a local tourism tax Natchez-Adams County officials could ask the Mississippi Legislature to authorize in 2027.
The airport has received generous state and federal grants in recent years, including a $500,000 federal grant awarded earlier this summer for the newly built passenger terminal and a $750,000 federal subsidy to help ensure the airline doesn’t lose money.
City and county officials are preparing their budgets for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
For Adams County, the preliminary plan calls for about $42 million in annual revenues for a budget that supervisors want to base on a reduced property tax millage rate with a flat level of spending. This comes after increased property values last year resulted in the higher tax bills landholders had to pay this year.
The current budget Adams County began with last October could end with a surplus exceeding $2 million, which could be applied toward tax relief.
The Adams County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Sept. 15 on the budget before approving it.
For Natchez, Mayor Dan Gibson and aldermen have a proposed budget of about $38 million with the city’s tax millage rate staying the same but a $1.5 million reduction in revenues from what the city had this past year.
The mayor and Board of Aldermen will hold a public hearing on the budget Sept. 8 before it’s finalized.
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