Proposed county budget tops $60 million

By Scott Nicholson

While property taxes may remain at current levels, local residents could be throwing more of their money in the trash in the coming fiscal year.

The Watauga County manager’s recommended budget for 2008-09 tops the $60 million mark, with a $44.6 million general fund and no property tax increase, but with rising costs and a new state tax leading to higher bills for waste disposal.

The proposed budget is about a 4.6 percent increase over the current fiscal year’s, with the ad valorem tax rate remaining at 31.3 cents per $100 of property value.

The Boone Fire Service District has requested a doubling of its fire tax rate, up to 4 percent. The remaining fire taxes are proposed to remain the same.

The budget proposes a $2 increase for the solid waste availability fee, which the county is passing on to consumers because of state charge on the same amount. The funds will be used to maintain closed landfills. The tipping fee could increase nearly 10 percent to $49 per ton, part of which is attributed to the $2 state tax. Land-clearing or debris disposal would increase from $35 to $42 per ton.

Also proposed are building permit increases of 30 cents per square foot of heated space, $300 plus 15 cents a square foot for modular home basements, and $40 for permit and $100 for zoning, watershed and high-impact land use ordinance reviews of site plans.

The proposed local school budget contains a 7.2 percent increase, up to $11 million, with a school capital outlay budget of $650,000 for repairs and renovations. The operating expense is about $300,000 less than the school board requested.

The budget also sets aside nearly $5 million for debt service on the new high school.

Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute would get a 5 percent increase in addition to the county’s advancing $275,000 from the capital reserve fund for a vocational classroom building under construction on the Watauga campus.

The Sheriff’s Office recommended budget includes four new staff positions, with overall Sheriff’s Office salaries increasing from $1.6 million to $1.78 million, less than the requested $1.9 million. The departmental budget is proposed at $3 million, about 10 percent lower than requested, but $120,000 higher than the current year’s amount. Communications would increase by more than 10 percent to $492,000, and the jail budget would increase from $1.76 million to $1.87 million.

Other proposed increases are: 5 percent for the Appalachian District Health Department, a 10 percent increase in the library budget and a 4.5 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees, along with a 2 percent performance adjustment. The county is also increasing its mileage reimbursement rate from 48.5 cents a mile to 50.5 cents a mile.

The Boone Fire District increase would raise the district’s revenues from $282,000 to $552,000, with other fire district taxes ranging from three to five cents per $100 of property value.

Last year, the fire departments advocated keeping the rates the same in the wake of revaluation, which led in effect to a tax increase, as the commissioners adopted a revenue-neutral budget for the county’s general operations.

In his budget commentary, Nelson wrote, “The budget is mainly a continuation budget with few expansion expenditures. Expenditure levels are recommended as a fair distribution of available resources with the intention of maintaining current service levels while recognizing the increasing costs and complexities of providing public services.”

The general fund budget was $39.4 million in 2006-07 and $37.4 million in 2005-06. The commissioners will fine-tune the budget over the next two months, with a work session Thursday and a public hearing May 20.

A budget must be adopted before the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.