City Manager Jerry Moss introduced his proposed fiscal year 2006-2007 to members of the FAIR Committee and all other council members except Bernard Alston at Wednesday’s scheduled committee meeting.
Although it is virtually certain that the budget will undergo changes as it is reviewed by the council, it seems clear that the council wishes to avoid last year’s lengthy budget debates by limiting the access of city department heads to council meetings where budget issues are being discussed.
According to a memorandum by Moss that introduces the preliminary budget, the city’s general fund has lost $89,000,000 in its tax base over the last five budget years, making the balancing of the city budget very difficult. He also notes that the growth of state-shared revenues has not grown as much as has been anticipated in previous years.
Moss states that budgets received from city department heads exceeded the anticipated revenues of the city. He indicated that if the budget requests had been granted, they would have necessitated an ad valorum tax increase of 16 cents to meet costs.
The proposed budget does not call for any ad valorum tax increases. The tax rate will remain at $.67. The budget does, however, include a 3% increase in water rates.
The new budget calls for the creation of three new positions: a full-time city attorney, a code compliance inspector, and an engineering administrative secretary. Seventeen frozen positions will be hired between July 1 of this year, the first day of the new budget year, and January 1, 2007. Nine positions will be eliminated, including the School Resource Officer positions currently serving Vance County middle schools.
No cost-of-living adjustments are proposed for the 2006-2007 budget year. However, Moss indicated in his memo that management would review revenue and expenditure mid-year to determine the viability of an adjustment for all employees.
Moss indicated that the city should not give mid-year cost-of-living adjustments after the 2006-2007 budget year.
The city is reviewing health insurance from the North Carolina League of Municipalities and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Moss indicated the Blue Cross Blue Shield is approximately $13 per month less expensive for an annual savings of $39,000 and that the issue is currently under review.
The city’s current provider is Cigna through the North Carolina League of Municipalities. The most recent change was from Blue Cross Blue Shield when the current fiscal year began.
Besides taxes, other sources of revenue include sales tax, franchise tax, beer and wine tax, cable television franchise tax, sanitation, a new inspection fee for minimum housing, an increase in zoning/reclassification rates, transfer from Powell Bill and Regional Water and Sewer funds, and transfers from Vance County for shared programs.
Moss concluded his memorandum by touting the budget as a place “to begin to ‘heal’ the financial ills that have plagued our city for quite some time now”.
The memorandum may be viewed in its entirety by using the links below. In deference to our readers with slower connections, it has been divided into segments for easier viewing.