THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230350
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
City residents would see their taxes rise by 2 1/2 cents and their garbage collection fees increase to $7 a month under a budget proposed by City Manager Steven Harrell Monday.
In return, they would get a new fire station, expanded city offices and about the same level of services they got last year.
Harrell proposed a 1996-97 general fund budget of $8.3 million, as part of a $35 million overall budget including the self-supporting electric and water-sewer funds. The proposal is a 3 percent increase over this year's general fund budget.
City employees would get a 2.6 percent cost-of-living raise under the proposal. As promised at a recent council meeting, no new city positions were requested.
The city manager called his first draft to the council a ``maintenance'' budget, geared toward keeping the city running smoothly until officials put together a long-range plan for growth.
``When I call it a maintenance budget,'' Harrell said, ``we pretty much, except for salaries, maintain what it was last year.
``We need to have a comprehensive capital improvement program. . . . We want to start as soon as this thing's adopted.''
The tax increase, if approved, would raise city real estate taxes to 64 cents per $100 valuation. The money would go primarily to pay for a new fire station and to renovate the BB&T building on Colonial Avenue, purchased by the city last year to expand its offices.
The increase in garbage collection rates to $7 from $5 would help bolster the general fund balance, which must be maintained at about 8 percent of the city's operating budget, Harrell said.
The council reacted calmly to the proposal, asking questions on some specific items but pointing out few major concerns.
Mayor Pro Tem Anita Hummer did suggest that the council consider adding police officers to the city rolls, despite earlier agreement to cap the current staffing levels.
``We don't have enough police officers at night to patrol all these areas,'' Hummer said, adding that she wants enough staff to allow the department to enforce a late-night curfew for juveniles that was passed more than two years ago.
Harrell said the Police Department would like to add officers, but he discouraged the request.
``I didn't know that you all would want to entertain adding people to the payroll when you just eliminated 18 people from the payroll,'' he said.
Public safety has been a significant concern for the council over the last several years. Eight police offers were added to the force in 1994-95, and the council considered adding more last year but decided not to.
Also during the first of several budget discussions, Councilman Zack Robertson recommended buying beepers for staff in the Inspections Department. When Mayor H. Rick Gardner questioned the suggestion, Robertson said he thought the department needed to serve the public better.
``The Inspections Department is slack,'' Robertson said. ``It is not doing a real good job. . . . And I think it needs a little handling.''
After the meeting, Robertson said the department needs to keep office hours all day long, and that its employees should be available in the field. The three-member department now has someone in the office only about three or four hours a day.
Inspections Director Stanley Ward later declined to comment on Robertson's statements.
The council is free to change Harrell's proposal any way it wants. But Gardner said the new city manager had produced a good document.
``I'm very, very pleased with the presentation tonight,'' Gardner said. ``As a first session, this was an excellent session.'' by CNB