MINUTES
Town of Blowing Rock
Board of Commissioners
May 19, 2008
The
Town of Blowing Rock Board of Commissioners held a FY 2008-2009 budget work
session on Monday, May 19, 2008, at 4:00 p.m. The work session was held at Town
Hall located at
The
purpose of the work session was to review the Recommended Budget for FY
2008-2009. Mayor Lawrence called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.
Discussion Item
Pursuant
to Section 159-11 of the North Carolina General Statutes, Town Manager Scott
Hildebran presented Council with the Recommended Budget for FY 2008-2009 for
their review.
Town
Manager Hildebran reviewed the FY 2007-2008 budget message (Refer to “Exhibit
J”, May 13, 2008 Town Council meeting).
He stated the key principles which the budget is based on were as
follows:
Town
Manager Hildebran gave the following review of revenue sources:
Source of Revenue
Ad
Valorem Tax (Property Tax) for FY 2007-2008 for Blowing Rock would maintain a
rate of $0.280 per $100 of the valuation.
Total Ad Valorem tax revenues (including current and prior years, motor
vehicles, and penalties/interest) are projected to be $2,855,000 based on an
expected collection rate of 97%.
Sales
and Services, revenues come from the services the town sells based on the Town fee
Schedule. Some services which produce
“Sales and Service” revenue are commercial solid waste/recycling fee, parks and
recreation department fees (pool, day camp, program registration, etc.)
cemetery fees, zoning/building fees, water/sewer charges. This source of
revenue will provide approximately $317,650 for the next fiscal year to the
General Fund. Water/sewer charges (and
interest) are estimated at $1,540,880 in FY 2008-2009.
State-Collected
Local Taxes are for statewide revenues received by the Town and estimates
depend on economic forces: Utility Franchise Tax, Telecommunications Sales Tax,
Beer and Wine Tax and the new Video Programming Tax (formally Cablevision TV
Franchise Tax). These funds are collected
by the State and are expected to be $213,300 for FY 2008-2009 and are strictly
General Fund revenues.
Sales
Tax which consist of a one-cent sales tax and three one-half cent sales
taxes. The authority to implement a
third one-cent sales tax was approved by the General Assembly and approved locally
by both the Watauga County and Caldwell County Board of Commissioners in 2002
and replaced the State reimbursements for repealed local taxes.
According
to Mr. Hildebran the N.C. League of Municipalities report two issues that will
continue to affect local sales tax estimates for next year – Sales Tax Refund
Increases and the Impact of Remote Sales.
Currently, 28 separate types of entities are entitled to refunds of the
local sales tax, excluding those related to economic development incentives.
Hotel/Motel
Occupancy Tax are levied via the Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority on
the gross receipts from the rental of transient accommodations in the Town of
Powell
Bill Street Allocation is strictly used to maintaining, repairing, constructing,
reconstructing or widening any public street or thoroughfare within the Town
limits that is not State-maintained. An
estimated $85,000 is anticipated for FY 2008-2009.
ABC
Revenues are contributed from the local ABC Board from the sales of alcoholic
beverages and are estimated to be $122,500 in FY 2008-2009
Anticipated
Grant money is not included in the Recommended FY 2008-2009 Budget at the
present time, but the Town will seek grant-funding opportunities during the
year. A current “Safe Routes to School”
grant application is under review with the N.C. Department of Transportation
for sidewalk improvements to
Other miscellaneous revenue
includes: privilege licenses, interest income, parking tickets, donations, book
sales, park lease, town property rental income, sale of fixed assets, snow
removal reimbursement, etc. These funds are expected to be $206,500.
According to the North
Carolina Local Government Commission, the minimum level of undesignated fund
balance available for appropriation is 8% of the prior year’s
expenditures. A minimum fund balance
level is necessary to enable the unit to meet current obligations, to prevent
the unit from experiencing cash flow difficulties, and to aid the unit during
emergencies. The adopted Town of
On
June 20, 2008, the Undesignated General Fund Balance is expected to be approximately
$2,050,000 a projected 45.44% of FY 2006-2007 General Fund Budget.
The
Recommended FY2008-2009 Budgeted appropriated $75,000 from the general fund
balance to be specifically designated for street paving. Commissioner Tester expressed concern about
spending. Town Manager Hildebran stated he
believed the Fund Balance would grow when final budget closeout occurs. He distributed a copy of the Town Financial
Policy for Council’s information.
Expenditures by Function – General
Fund
Mr.
Hildebran briefly reviewed the following function accounts:
General
Government (governing Body, Administration/Finance & Central Government)
accounts for $857,880 or 17.74% of the total General Fund Budget.
General
Government (Public Buildings & Grounds) accounts for $734,250 or 15.18% of
the total.
Public
Safety (Police & Emergency Services) accounts for $1,366,000 or 28.25% of
the total.
Transportation
(Public Works/Streets) accounts for $896,990 or 15.55%.
Environmental
Protection (Public Works/Sanitation/Recycling) accounts for $316,995 or 6.55%.
Economic
and Community Development (Planning/Zoning) accounts for $238,110 or 4.92%.
Culture
and Recreation (Parks/Recreation/Landscaping) accounts for $425,835 or 8.81%.
Expenditures by Function –
Water/Sewer Fund
This
function accounts for $1,540,880 or 100% of the water/sewer fund.
Expenditures by Category
The
Recommended FY 2008-2009 Budget for personnel expenditures were $2,689,745 or
45.60% of the total budget.
Mr.
Hildebran highlighted the following:
Mr.
Hildebran advised the Town would be saving approximately $90,150 on group
health insurance by joining the State Health Plan but retirement costs for
retiree health insurance would costs around $25,000 with a net $15,000 savings. He also advised by changing to the State telephone
system over $14,000 was saved annually.
He thanked Finance Director Norman for her efforts.
Operating Expenses
The
FY 2008-2009 Recommended Budget for Operating Expenditures is $2,177,675 or
34.15% of the total budget. Highlights
include:
Mr.
Hildebran stated an increase of 14.17% was expected liability/workers comp due
to an increase in claims this past year.
Mr.
Hildebran also stated due to the increase in gas prices, the overall budget
would be increase 17.2% at market rate.
Parking
enforcement was also discussed. Mr.
Hildebran stated the proposed budget included funding for part-time enforcement
and that with additional off-street parking, he hoped for an improvement in the
parking issue. Commissioner Klutz stated
it was his opinion that visitors to Blowing Rock should not be ticketed, but
merchants and store employees should receive tickets for parking along
Water
conservation was discussed briefly with Mr. Hildebran advising the State would
soon be mandating the water situation for all municipalities.
Sidewalks
and ditch lines were discussed, Commissioner Pickett inquired about sidewalks along
Mr.
Hildebran also stated the recommended budget included funding for
implementation of the Town storm water master plan.
ADJOURNMENT
There
being no further discussion, the work session recessed at 6:30 p.m.
MAYOR
_____________________________
J.B. Lawrence
Attest:
____________________________
Sharon Greene, Town Clerk