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Rolesville holds line on town tax
Rolesville holds line on town tax
by Debra A. Golden, Wake Weekly Staff Writer
May 8, 2003
Rolesville may have its first town planner in 2004.
Members of the town's budget committee have been supportive of the concept, and when Town Manager Matt Livingston pitched the idea to planning board members in their last meeting, they took a formal vote in support of the plan.
Livingston presented his proposed budget, complete with a request for money to hire a new town planner, in Monday night's board meeting.
Highlights include
the formation of a planning department which would be overseen by planning director to be hired in January of 2004. Livingston proposes to set aside $20,000 which should be more than enough to pay the first six months' salary for the planner, he said.
The planning director would oversee everything from code enforcement to advising members of the parks and recreation board to purchasing and planning and web site development. In other words, the planning director would "do a lot of things that just aren't getting done right now," Livingston said.
Although he is budgeting $40,000 as a yearly salary, "it is not necessarily a $40,000 job," he said. He hopes the town can find someone with experience and pay a salary in the mid-30s.
the adoption and implementation of a new pay and classification study which is being performed by the North Carolina League of Municipalities. The study will include job descriptions and pay scales that are compatible with those of surrounding towns.
Livingston also recommends a 1.5 percent increase in 401(k) contributions for non-police department employees (police already receive a 5 percent contribution).
The proposed budget would maintain a "very strong fund balance at over 90 percent undesignated reserves," wrote Livingston in his Fiscal Year 2003-2004 Budget Message.
A healthy fund balance is especially important for smaller governments because the "cost of large expenditures due to . . . unanticipated events represents a greater portion of their general fund."
Currently, the town's unrestricted fund balance is $836,814.06, which is 91 percent of the proposed operational budget.
no recommended increase in ad valorem taxes.
Livingston has proposed that ad valorem property taxes remain steady at $.485 per $100 valuation. The tax includes $.055 for Rolesville Fire District expenses. The tax rate is applied to an estimated tax base of $84,000,000.
a new fee schedule for development. Livingston will present a spreadsheet which compares Rolesville's fees to those of other Wake County municipalities to commissioners in the May 20 meeting.
The public hearing on the budget will be held on June 2.
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Last Updated On: May 8, 2003
Copyright 2003 The Wake Weekly |
