Fremont residents can look at budget
By Andrew Bell
Published in News on May 24, 2007 1:45 PM
FREMONT -- Although some mistakes were found in the town's preliminary budget, a final draft should be ready for Fremont's Board of Aldermen and town residents in time for a June 19 public hearing.
During a budget session Tuesday night at Town Hall, Town Administrator Kerry McDuffie explained to the board that he had found several errors in the initial budget figures, but all were corrected during the meeting and McDuffie said the final document will be ready for residents to see before the board votes.
By law, a budget must adopted by July 1.
The proposed budget calls for no tax increase and no increase in fees for water, sewer, garbage or other town-provided services.
Fremont's current tax rate is 65 cents per $100 worth of property.
Several errors pertained to employee salaries and were corrected as board members worked through the figures.
The board is considering setting aside $300,000 to pay Goldsboro during the 2007-08 fiscal year for treating Fremont's wastewater.
The town already owes Goldsboro about $170,000 for previous sewer services.
Eureka owes Fremont $174,000 for sewer collection. McDuffie said if Eureka can pay up, then Fremont can simply forward the money to Goldsboro to cover the debt.
One line item in the budget is expected to save the town money in the long run. The purchase of water meter readers that work on a radio frequency should eliminate the chance of human error in reading meters, McDuffie said, and help the town in its collections.