City releases proposed budget for 2006-2007

Budget & Evaluation May 18, 2005       
Contact: Ann Jones, 727-2639

How to participate in the budget process

Copies of the proposed budget are available for review at public libraries and City Hall, 101 N. Main St. Suite 117. Copies of the budget are also available at the Budget Department website starting May 19.

The City Council’s Finance Committee will hold workshops on the budget at 4 p.m. May 25, May 30, June 1, June 12 and at 2 p.m. June 13. All workshops will be held in the Council Committee Room, Room 239, on the second floor of City Hall. These workshops are open to the public but are for the purpose of allowing council members to study the proposed budget.

The Finance Committee will hold a public hearing on the budget at 7:30 p.m. June 8 in the Council Chamber, Room 230, on the second floor of City Hall.

The City Council will hold a public hearing on the budget June 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber, Room 230 on the second floor of City Hall.

The 2006-2007 Budget

The city property-tax rate would remain the same and the Police Department would gain 10 more officers under the proposed $357.6 million budget for 2006-2007 that City Manager Bill Stuart sent today to the City Council.

Overall, the budget allocates $274.2 million for operations and debt service, and $83.4 million for capital projects. There would be no reduction in city services under the proposed budget.

The proposed budget includes $154.9 million for the General Fund, which is the city’s primary fund and accounts for most tax-supported services. This is an increase of $6.55 million, or 4.4 percent, compared with 2005-2006.

Proposed enhancements include adding a 10-member squad to the Police Department, to address the city’s growing gang population and crimes that come with drug sales.

With more and more services being provided through the city Web site, the budget would add a full-time Web content supervisor. To improve service in other departments, it also proposes adding a fire investigator, a plumbing inspector, and three personnel to the Utilities Division.

However, the city would eliminate a three-person sanitation crew, thanks to continued efficiencies from the voluntary curbside-collection program. Almost 22,000 households are now participating in the program.

The budget anticipates continued volatility in the price of gasoline and other petroleum products. The allocation for vehicle fuel would increase by 51 percent to $4.5 million, not counting $100,000 that would be set aside in case fuel costs rise even higher than projected.

It also includes pay raises of up to 5 percent for police officers and firefighters, to keep their pay rates from losing ground compared with other major cities in North Carolina. Other city employees could receive merit raises of up to 3 percent.

Grants to the Arts Council Inc, SciWorks, the YMCA Youth Incentive Program and the Experiment in Self Reliance Inc. would hold steady at $384,850.

The proposed budget includes several adjustments in user fees. Water & sewer rates would increase by 5 percent and the tipping fees at all city landfills would increase by $1 per ton. In addition, the stormwater management fee would increase by 20 percent to pay for stormwater capital improvements and maintain the city’s aging stormwater collection system.

Capital spending for the 2006-2007 would increase by $21.1 million, or almost 34 percent, compared with 2005-2006. Most of the increase is for improvements to the water and sewer system. The capital spending plan also includes road improvements, sidewalk construction and repairs, greenway construction and a new field house at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Although the overall budget would grow by $23.3 million, Stuart said that a combination of reduced expenses and growth in sales and property taxes make it possible to hold the property-tax rate at 48.5 cents for every $100 of value, the same as this year.

The City Council’s Finance Committee will begin reviewing the budget next week. The council is tentatively scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on the budget on June 19. By state law, the council must adopt a budget for 2006-2007 by June 30. The budget would take effect July 1.