Mars Hill approves roughly 5% increase in budget; only Madison town to maintain tax rate

MARS HILL - Mars Hill's property tax rate will remain unchanged from the previous year.

The Mars Hill Town Board approved its 2024-25 budget June 27 in a special meeting at the Mars Hill Town Hall, as the town will maintain its property tax rate of 47 cents per $100 valuation.

Full-time town employees also received a $3,000 cost of living adjustment increase.

The budget was presented to the board by Town Manager Nathan Bennett.

The overall budget is a nearly 5% increase from 2023-24 due to modest revenue increases to property tax and fire tax resulting from the Madison County real property revaluation currently taking place.

The 2024-25 budget's General Fund revenues total roughly $3.2 million.

The estimated General Fund expenditures are as follows:

• Fire department: $942,000
• Police department: $782,000
• Street department: $402,000
• Administration: $310,000
• Sanitation department: $213,000
• Powell Bill expenditures: $200,000
• Governing body: $129,000
• Recreation department: $106,000
• Public buildings: $41,000
• Library: $24,000
• Tax collections: $5,000

Of the $3.2 million in the budget, more than $902,000 in revenue results from the special fire district tax, while the 2023-24 property tax rate of 47 cents per $100 valuation is anticipated to produce $884,000 in revenue.

The local option sales tax is estimated to generate $700,000 in General Fund revenue, according to a copy of the town's budget ordinance.

As with the town of Marshall and Marshall Town Administrator Forrest Gilliam, Bennett said Mars Hill delayed finalizing its budget as long as possible in order to receive the most accurate information from officials working on that county's property revaluation process, to account for outstanding appeals and exemptions.

"County tax officials recommend the Town use only 90% of the $201 million preliminary value for properties inside the Town of Mars Hill as provided by the Madison County Tax Office," Bennett said.

"However, the County tax office shares that the provided valuation is not the final value and stress that the valuation for Mars Hill properties will change due to appeals and exemptions that have yet to be worked by the county into this appraisal number resulting from the Madison County mass real property reappraisal."

Bennett told The News-Record & Sentinel the policy decision on the tax rate in a revaluation year kept the town "in limbo" during its deliberations.

"You don't want to charge anybody any more than you have to," Bennett said. "You don't know where they're going to finally land. You sure don't want to raise the rate back. You don't want to have to lower it then raise it. So we're going to stay here. Then, when the dust settles on it, we will change it if we need to."

As such, Bennett said county tax officials recommended Mars Hill use 90% of that $201 million, a valuation of $181 million, which is a roughly 5% increase from the 2023-24 valuation of $173 million.

In Bennett's budget message, the town manager said the town's revenue increase includes additional benefits, equipment and resources to the town's first responders.

"The Mars Hill Fire Department is a Town department that also serves county residents in the surrounding Mars Hill fire district," Bennett said in the message. The Department has a small full and part-time paid staff with 30 volunteers. It is vital that the department has the equipment and resources needed to respond to any emergency whether it be a manmade or natural disaster."

Bennett said there is funding in the budget for health insurance and retirement contributions mandated by the state.

The budget also accounts for a replacement police patrol vehicle.

"The Town is committed to providing our citizens and visitors with a professional police force to ensure the safety and security of our community," Bennett said. "Mars Hill continues to experience community growth with an expanded response area and increased service calls."

More: MadCo cuts tax rate from 50 to 36Property tax dropping to 36 cents from 50 cents as Madison approves $33.1 million budget

More: Mars Hill approves 2023-24 budgetMars Hill approves 2023-24 budget, a nearly 9% increase from current year

Water and Sewer Fund

The town's Water and Sewer Fund revenues total more than $1.3 million.

Bennett said the town expects to begin construction on the $700,000 grant-funded project to install new sewer lines and waterlines from the new sewer pump station at Interstate 26 Exit 11 southward along Calvin Edney Road.

In a separate project, the town is in the process of replacing an aging sewer pump station and plans to rehabilitate an associated second station serving the Woodhaven/South Main Street service area, a project that will continue into 2025.

The Water and Sewer fund expenditures are as follows:

• Operations: $888,000
• Administration, engineering and billing: $329,000
• Debt service: $113,000

Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for nearly three years, including earning a first-place award in beat reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6071 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.