City Manager Barbara Jones had signaled that a no-frills, bare-bones budget for the next fiscal year would be in store for Mount Airy — and this is exactly what she delivered.
The preliminary spending plan for 2020-21 which Jones presented to the city commissioners during a meeting Thursday night recommends no increases in property taxes or water and sewer charges, coupled with cuts or moratoriums in various funding categories.
It seems designed to basically maintain city services under existing revenue structures and put some needs on hold to get the municipality through the present pandemic in the hope conditions will improve after the fiscal year begins on July 1.
“We are in uncertain and challenging times,” Jones reminded the commissioners after handing out bound copies of the proposed budget.
They seemed to accept the reality of this.
“I thought when this pandemic hit that wisdom suggested we should keep the same budget,” said Commissioner Jon Cawley, the longest-serving representative on the city council.
“Having sat in your chair, I never had to deal with these uncertainties,” first-term Commissioner Ron Niland, a former Mount Airy city manager, told Jones during Thursday night’s budget discussion.
“These are very tough economic times.”
Total general fund expenditures are projected at $13.7 million, slightly less than the budget approved last June for this fiscal year.
Mount Airy maintains a separate water-sewer budget, involving an enterprise fund arrangement that is self-supported through user fees. It is projected at $5.6 million for the next fiscal year.
The city property tax rate would remain at 60 cents per $100 of assessed valuation along with no hike in water and sewer charges.
Property taxes and sales taxes are the main revenue producers for the city government, and with COVID-19 curtailing many local retail and restaurant operations the projected take from sales taxes is projected at $2.8 million next year. That is 11.34% less than this fiscal year, with a cloud of unpredictability still hovering.
“We will be monitoring these closely with the goal to make budget adjustments if the collections are lower than our projections,” the city manager said of sales-tax proceeds.
To help make ends meet, the preliminary general fund budget includes allocating around $1 million from fund balance revenues, which also have been referred to as the city’s savings or surplus.
Job, capital outlay outlook
On the spending side, the proposed package also reflects a conservative approach.
“This budget is tough on employees and it’s tough on capital outlay,” Niland said.
Unlike other recent years, no pay increases are included for municipal workers.
In addition, Jones recommends freezing the filling of 14 vacant positions on the city payroll to save money. These include four sworn officers and one communications position on the city police force, along with openings in the sanitation, information technology and fire departments, and three others in the water and sewer operation.
A six-month freeze is anticipated, with an expectation that the positions could be filled if finances allow around the first of next year.
Concern seemed to emerge Thursday night regarding the police officer positions in particular and the possible impact on law enforcement.
“The ones in the police department hopefully won’t have a big effect on them,” Jones said of vacancies in that unit. “I know it will be a management issue as far as covering everything.”
Part of the reasoning surrounding the police openings involves the fact that a key recruiting resource for the city police department— the Basic Law Enforcement Training program — is not scheduled to produce its next batch of graduates until December. Jones says this is well-timed with the freeze.
A bare cupboard also is eyed for the capital outlay category — covering various big-ticket items, generally costing more than $10,000, related to buildings, infrastructure projects and equipment needs across all municipal departments.
Large capital purchases are being delayed for the foreseeable future under the budget plan, until “we have a better handle on revenues,” Jones said.
Only $293,307 in that category is earmarked in the general fund budget, mainly for paving.
Meanwhile, $254,000 in capital funding is proposed for the water-sewer operation, which Jones said would include some infrastructure rehabilitation and “just the uncertainties — what might pop up,” such as line breaks.
Another area being clipped by the budget ax involves special appropriations to outside agencies that play key roles in the community, which are being cut by 50% across the board in comparison to 2019-20 totals.
The overall figure proposed for 2020-21 is $104,325, including $43,750 to the Surry Arts Council, $5,000 for Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, $51,825 to the Mount Airy Public Library that is operated through a regional system and $3,750 for the Mount Airy Rescue Squad.
“This is probably the hardest thing for us to do — the special appropriations (reductions),” Niland commented.
The budget presented by the city manager is not set in stone, however.
Citizens will have a chance to comment on the package during a public hearing in June, with the commissioners also scheduled to hold deliberations that have produced some major changes in recent years.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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