Council adopts $39.4M budget

The Waynesboro City Council, by a 3-2 vote, adopted a $39.4 million budget for fiscal year 2010 that eliminates one of the two furlough days originally proposed for city workers.

Mayor Tim Williams, along with Councilwomen Nancy Dowdy and Lorie Smith, voted in favor of the budget, while Vice Mayor Frank Lucente and Councilman Bruce Allen voted against it.

“I think that this is the best that we can do at this time,” Williams said.

Lucente, in opposing the budget, said it “was built on the back of a tax increase which I cannot support.” He also opposed the $26,000 in restored funding for the Heritage Museum.

“I can’t support a budget based on a tax increase, and I can’t support an add/delete list based on restoring funding for the Heritage Museum,” Lucente said.

The budget is based on a 70 cents per $100 assessed value tax rate, meaning the tax bill of a home valued at the median $207,000 would increase by $72. Lucente supported a 67-cent rate, but, by the same 3-2 margin, the council voted in May to support the 70-cent rate.

A 67-cent rate would have been revenue-neutral, while the 70-cent rate effectively enacted a 4.3 percent average tax increase after reassessments in the city increased in 2009 by 5.2 percent.

City Manager Mike Hamp presented the council with a new add/delete list for the budget because the city learned last week that machinery and tools tax revenue came in at $57,317 above projections. As a result, the council used that money to eliminate one furlough day and give the city a balanced budget.

The extra money also allowed the city to restore economic development incentive programs, put nearly $34,000 into a reserve fund for tax relief for the elderly and add $14,742 back to the city manager’s budget. The remaining money will be put into a contingency fund.

One furlough day for city workers will remain, to be taken between April and June 2010. Council members have asked that the other furlough day be reviewed at that tome to determine whether it is still necessary.

Local support for schools takes up the largest portion of the upcoming budget, at $12.4 million, an 11 percent increase from the current fiscal year.

Counting federal and state money, Waynesboro Public Schools will receive $30.4 million in fiscal year 2010. More than half of that money — $15.8 million – will come from state sources.

The adopted budget calls for $8.6 million to be spent on public safety, and $4.6 million for the Public Works Department. The city also has budgeted $2.6 million for debt service. The majority of city departments and agencies had their budgets cut amid declining local and state revenues.

The net city budget, inclusive of federal, state and local money, is $67.2 million, with $24.8 million of that coming from the state and another $3.1 million coming from the federal government.