News / Upcoming Events
Originally published on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 in the Local & State category of the Fayetteville Observer
Tax rate to get 2nd look
By Andrew Barksdale
Staff writer
The Fayetteville
City Council wants to take another look at the budget amid new questions
raised Monday night.
The council voted 8-2 to delay action on next year’s budget and instead hold a special meeting next Monday when a final budget proposal could be considered.
Last week, a majority of the council preliminarily voted to shed $3 million from City Manager Dale Iman’s recommended budget and reduce the proposed tax rate to 45.1 cents per $100 in property value.
Iman had recommended a 47.5-cent rate.
The value of the typical home in Fayetteville shot up almost 30 percent this year when Cumberland County revalued property. That meant many taxpayers faced steep tax increases with the current city tax rate of 53 cents.
The city has estimated that 45.1 cents would yield the normal amount of taxes this year if there had been no property revaluations. Fayetteville homeowners also pay county taxes.
On Monday, when the council members were scheduled to give a final vote on the budget, Iman warned them a 45.1-cent rate might hurt the city financially in the long run. He said there were too many uncertainties, from the nationwide recession to the state legislature’s impending budget cuts. He said the city still doesn’t know the fate of thousands of homeowners who are appealing their higher property assessments.
“In several ways, we may have cut it too close to the core,” Iman said.
The council’s cuts announced last week included 2 percent merit raises for all employees, except police officers, who would see salary increases that averaged 4.8 percent.
More than 60 city employees — mostly in the fire department and the solid waste department — turned out Monday night to voice opposition to the council’s proposal to impose a wage freeze, which would save the city $936,000, or about three-quarters of a penny on the tax rate.
Larry Melvin, who drives a truck that picks up bulky items for the city’s Solid Waste Department, told the council during the public forum it was unfair to give some employee pay raises and not others.
“We are very much needed,” he said. “We just want to feel appreciated.”
Rod McKeithan, who was a Fayetteville firefighter from 1979 until his retirement in 2005, told the council firefighters work hard, require special training and put their lives on the line. They deserve better, he said.
Councilwoman Val Applewhite asked Iman if he could find alternate areas to trim in the budget to pay for the pay raises while preserving a 45.1-cent rate. Iman said he would try and report back at Monday’s special meeting.
Everyone voted to give Iman more time except Keith Bates and Bill Crisp.
The council hopes to adopt a budget before the new fiscal year starts July 1.
Iman’s original general-fund budget recommended in May topped almost $150 million, or a 4.8 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. It included 52 new Police Department employees, 24 additional firefighters and a modest spending increase in the bus system.
Voting last week to preliminarily adopt the budget with $3 million in cuts in Iman’s proposal with a 45.1-cent rate were everyone but D.J. Haire and Applewhite. She wanted to give employees raises. Haire wanted assurances that the council would try to pay for a redevelopment proposal on Murchison Road if future money became available. The council said Monday it would give that commitment without committing any money at this time on the corridor.
The council last week agreed to fill only 30 new Police Department positions, and defer hiring the remaining 22 that Iman had recommended until the department had no vacancies.
Staff writer Andrew Barksdale can be reached at barksdalea@fayobserver.com or 486-3565.
