$70 million budget portends no tax hike
But Chatham will tap fund balance
Published: Tue, Jun. 20, 2006 12:00AM
Modified Tue, Jun. 20, 2006 03:13AM
E-Mail
Print
tool name
closePITTSBORO -- The Chatham County Board of Commissioners passed a budget of about $70 million with no tax increase Monday night.
The budget, which is up 1.5 percent from the current fiscal year, calls for nearly $30,000 in raises for the county manager, sheriff and register of deeds.
It also calls for increased spending on law enforcement, telecommunications and social services, as well as a 21 percent increase in the county attorney's retainer fee.
More Chatham County
To balance the budget without raising taxes, the commissioners agreed to use $6.5 million from the county's $21.9 million fund balance, or savings account. Most of that will help defray the cost of buying water from Harnett County, a deal that will cost $32 million.
The county now has about 23 percent of its budget in the fund balance, according to Renee Dickson, assistant county manager. The state recommends that counties keep a fund balance of at least 20 percent of the budget, she said.
Just before they voted on the budget, the commissioners agreed to withhold about $1.5 million from the county schools for technology.
The commissioners said they want to meet with the school board to discuss this cost before the county agrees to pay it.
"Last year the schools approached us for $2 million at budget time for laptops," Commissioner Mike Cross said. "We told them we didn't have the money."
The schools then found money in their own budget to purchase the computers. Cross said he wants to know if the schools can again fund their own computer purchases.
In other action, the commissioners agreed to look into changing the county's noise ordinance.
Several residents have complained about noise from a summer concert series and annual music festival held at Shakori Hills Farm in Silk Hope. Captain Roy Allen of the Chatham County Sheriff's Department will make a proposal for an ordinance at the commissioners' next meeting on July 17.
The commissioners will hold a public hearing on the ordinance in August.
Staff writer Leah Friedman can be reached at 932-2002 or leah.friedman@newsobserver.com.
Get it all with convenient home delivery of The News & Observer.
The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
