NATCHEZ, Miss. – The budget approved by Adams County supervisors Tuesday calls for reducing the tax millage rate while spending $46 million in the coming year to operate county government.
Property taxpayers won’t know how much their bills will be until delivered late this year, but the amounts should be less than what they paid for the fiscal year ending this month, said Adams County Board of Supervisors President Angela Hutchins. This comes after many property owners got hammered earlier this year by large tax increases blamed on higher assessed values of their residences, businesses and other taxable assets.
The budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 was developed with various goals that include “reducing the countywide millage rate (by 1 mill) while continuing to adequately fund county operations,” said Adams County Administrator Tuwanna Williams.
She and county supervisors presented the county budget at a public hearing Tuesday that drew only three people from the general public and two news reporters.
The upcoming budget’s $42.2 million in projected revenues is about $700,000 less than what Adams County received during the past year. The budgeted expenditures of $46.3 million exceed the new revenues. However, that’s not a deficit thanks to about $6.6 million in leftover funds being carried over from 2026.
The Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 for the budget with Kevin Wilson being the lone dissenter. The board’s only Republican member said county government is bloated with too many employees and unneeded properties to pay for. Ricky Gray, Warren Gaines and Hutchins voted for the budget. Wes Middleton was absent.
Williams, who became the county’s chief financial officer in July, noted the spending plan was prepared in a “short timeframe” and could be revised later.
The revenue budget’s $42.2 million include $20.9 million in anticipated property tax collections — nearly the same as the $21 million collected this past year from property taxes. This is 49 percent of the budget’s total revenues.
The total millage for properties outside Natchez is set at 121.3 mills — down from the 122.4 of fiscal 2026. The millage for those inside Natchez is set at 115.2 for the new year — down from the 116.6 this past year. Property owners outside the city pay an extra tax for fire-fighting services.
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