City passes budget
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on June 5, 2012 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
Construction of the Streetscape project is continuing on the north end of Center Street in front of City Hall. The Goldsboro City Council approved the city government budget for 2012-13 on Monday night. The budget contains no increase in the property tax rate.
The Goldsboro City Council finalized the city's spending plan for fiscal year 2012-13 during its meeting Monday.
The budget does not call for a tax increase or an increase in utility rates, although monthly residential refuse rates will increase by $1.25.
The $50,735,529 budget differs in some areas from the original draft first brought to council in early May, especially as the city sought to find a way to adjust it in advance of the July 1 deannexation of the Phase 11 area due to a newly enacted state law. The city's fiscal year also begins July 1.
The move meant the loss of $416,483 in taxes along with utility taxes, refuse fees, Powell Bill allocation and cable television revenues, but the city's Finance Department balanced that out by removing $322,319 in salary through attrition at the positions hired to service the area and $151,000 in health insurance savings. Other savings calculated include a vehicle and the elimination of the city's contract with Belfast Fire Department whereby Goldsboro paid $45,737 annually for protection for the annexation area.
The General Fund was tweaked to remove a $21,800 centerline painting contract and the removal from the Finance budget of $7,300 that was proposed to be used for tax listings.
Parks and Recreation received $60,000 for new basketball courts at Berkeley Park while salary attrition was estimated to be about $30,900.
Agency donations were also added to the budget during budget work sessions, as the Arts Council of Wayne County will receive $25,000 and Wayne Uplift will receive a $10,000 donation.
The Wayne Opportunity Center will receive an additional $10,000 than the original appropriation of $175,000 for the purchase of a shred truck to replace revenue the center will lose now that the city will be taking its recyclables to Kemp Recycling as part of a transition to commingled recycling
Utility Fund adjustments include funding the Neuse River dredging and dredge sedimentation projects at $79,000 and $70,000, respectively.
Other changes to the budget included removing the city's donation for promoting the Air Show from the General Fund and placing it in the Travel and Tourism budget which comes out of the Occupancy Tax Fund and making adjustments to the Municipal Service District Fund. Downtown's rent incentive grant and facade grant program budgets were combined into a single $19,200 appropriation for downtown projects.
This year's budget does represent a nearly $1.9 million increase from last year, but council and staff members were adamant that the city is funding positions this year that were not funded in fiscal year 2011-12. The attrition from last year's budget, treated as revenue this year, amounts to $761,000 according to the spending plan's budget summary. An additional $171,000 comes from additional refuse fees, while utility service credits, totaling $460,000, and $245,000 in borrowing make up much of the rest of the difference.
District 4 Councilman Rev. Charles Williams made the motion to approve the city's budget, which was seconded by District 6 Councilman Jackie Warrick. The motion passed 7-0.