BY STACIE LETT CAIN
After a nearly four-hour discussion of various zoning requests, City Manager Ron Smith finally had the opportunity to unveil the proposed 2024-2025 budget during Monday’s Statesville City Council meeting.
The $178.4 million spending plan reflects a $14.3 million increase, or 8.7 percent, over the current budget.
General Fund expenditures, which are largely funded by property tax and sales tax revenues, are projected to increase by $18.9 million (or 33 percent) from $54.6 million to $72.8 million.
“There were several key factors that influenced the growth from last year’s budget,” Smith explained. “With the high residential growth we saw close to a 10 percent increase in ad valorem taxes, which are a direct result of that growth.”
The proposed budget is based on maintaining the property tax rate of 51.76 cents per $100 valuation. The city’s property tax base is estimated to increase by $323 million to $5.02 billion.
General Fund expenses include a one-time investment towards the creation of the Building Standards Department ($800,000) as well as the downtown parking deck construction ($3.2 million). A 3 percent cost of living increase for all city employees is included in the plan.
While electricity rates are unchanged, the proposed budget does include a 7 percent increase in water and sewer rates.
As a result of the increased revenue, the city has the money to purchase nine police vehicles, a garbage service truck, two leaf collection vehicles and a single-axle dump truck. Funding is also earmarked for greenway improvements and other parks and recreation improvements as well as beginning the process building a new fire station.
City coffers will also benefit from a reduction in wholesale electricity prices.
“We are looking at a $8.8 million rebate in our electrical fund, of which the majority of that money can be moved to the General Fund for use on the police expansion project,” Smith explained.
The city manager is not recommending any proposed tax increase in the 2024-2025 budget.
Smith commended Statesville’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Carr for doing a great job working with department heads to get the budget completed.
“For the last four budgets we have seen four different CFOs,” Smith quipped. “But Tim jumped into this process and hit the ground running. He has done a tremendous job working with myself and department heads to get this put together.”
The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for May 20 at the next scheduled council meeting.
Council will also have another budget related work session sometime that week. The vote to adopt the budget will be on June 3 or June 17.
“Creation of the Building Standards Department”
Forbid the city doesn’t get all of the money. Wouldn’t want to risk any of the permit fees going towards building schools for the thousands of houses they are determined to approve.
Our water and especially the sewer rates are too high now. Find your money somewhere else. Find it in the new housing developments you are allowing to be built without the roads and schools to support them!
Everybody is struggling since covid. Seniors especially.
There is a family of 11 next door to me and they pay the same for sewer as my mostly one person home does. People have airbnbs in their home and pay the same as a 85 year old that mostly pees in her depends undergarments.
Iredell county is on the pricier side of their tax rates already compared to other counties with more growth!! And you now want to add to that tax?? This is unacceptable and you will end up pushing families that have been rooted here for years out of Iredell county!
You raised our taxes almost 50% and now want to raise water and sewer rates. I don’t think so!
I’m already harvesting rain water to flush with. Can’t get any worse. I’m on a fixed income. Can’t handle anymore. We need less people working for the government.
Another increase??? Are you all trying to take everything we have? Do you people not realize people are hanging on by a thread? My house payment increased by $350/mo. Because of your property tax increases! With all this new development you should have enough revenue to not need to raise taxes in any way on existing residents! Developers should be paying impact taxes for expansion of municipalities to those developments. Why should we have to pay more so they can get rich building cheap homes everywhere? Your new CFO should NOT be “commended.”