Published: July 03, 2008 04:26 pm            

City passes 2008-2009 budget

ASHEBORO — With unanimous approval of the City Council, Asheboro has a budget for 2008-2009 totaling $33,696,803, maintaining the 55-cent tax rate.

Expenditures in the general fund include a cost-of-living-adjustment salary increase for city employees of 2.5 percent, an increase of about $100,000 for fuel costs, approximately $500,000 to combat drugs, gangs and street crimes, and the addition of an officer and an evidence technician to the police force.

The Asheboro Police Department gets the lion’s share of appropriations, a total of $6,121,902.

That figure includes $402,520 for eight new vehicles, safety equipment, communications and video surveillance gear, tasers, an alcohol detection unit, weapon upgrades and police canine equipment for drug detection and searches.

Among the larger departments, the Fire Department will be allocated $3,352,894, the Sanitation/Solid Waste Department will get $2,368,930, Street Maintenance has been appropriated $2,069,155, Building & Grounds Maintenance will receive $1,380,404 and Parks/Lakes/Playgrounds will operate on $1,048,031. Total for the general fund is $21,867,085.

The Water and Sewer Fund is balanced at $11,829,718. The residential base rate, billed on a two-month cycle, for customers inside the city will remain at $15.34 for the first 300 cubic feet and the sewer rate for the first 300 cubic feet is $19.25. Each additional 100 cubic feet is $2.50. Commercial base rates remain at $12.27 for both water and sewer for the first 300 cubic feet and $2.50 for each additional 100 cubic feet.

Residential water and sewer customers will be transitioning to monthly billing, according to City Manager John Ogburn. He said many had asked to pay their water bills every month.

The transition will cost approximately $161,000. Business customers are currently billed monthly.

Finance Officer Debbie Juberg said the monthly billing will require the addition of three meter readers and vehicles, and one billing and collections clerk. She said the goal is to hire the personnel for training in October, with the actual monthly billing to start in January.

With monthly billing, she said, budgeting should be better for customers and meter readers can catch leaks quicker. Billing more often should also help the city’s cash flow and encourage more customers to sign up for bank drafts of their monthly charges, which eliminates the cost of sending bills in the mail.

Ogburn told the board that he had added $100,000 to the budget for fuel because of increasing gasoline and diesel prices. He said an energy team is being formed “to look at fuel use. We may have to go green.” Ogburn said biodiesel and electric motor vehicles are being looked at closely.

        

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