City budget hearing looms Thursday

Citizens have a chance to weigh in on Mount Airy’s proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year during a public hearing Thursday.

It will be held during a 6 p.m. meeting of the city council in the Municipal Building.

The $17.4 million general fund spending plan was unveiled on May 2 along with a separate budget for water-sewer operations totaling $7.6 million.

Next year’s municipal budget, which goes into effect on July 1, offers a mixed bag for local consumers in its present form.

While it contains no increase in the property tax rate — which stands at 60 cents per $100 of assessed valuation — the spending plan does include a 5-% water-sewer rate hike.

That increase is part of the proposed 2024-2025 budget, but already was approved to go into effect at the start of the next fiscal year through a March 7 vote by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners. It was 4-1, with the board’s Deborah Cochran dissenting.

An in-town resident now paying $40 per month — the charge for a combined bill for both water and sewer services — will see that go to $42 under the 5% increase, with those now billed at $60 to fork over $63.

At the other end of the scale, the city’s largest commercial water user is in line for a base-rate bump of more than $1,000 monthly — from $23,530 to $24,707.

The motivation behind the rate hike involves a need to speed up the city’s efforts in upgrading the local water-sewer infrastructure at treatment facilities along with replacing aging lines.

A new state “dashboard” system that analyzes the depreciation level of a community’s infrastructure weighed against user revenues collected placed Mount Airy in a warning zone. This signaled a need for it to provide more funds to address the utility needs at a faster pace.

The increase is expected to generate extra revenues of $327,000 for operational and infrastructure costs.

Next year will be the first time municipal water-sewer users have seen the rate hiked since 2018, when one of 2% was imposed.

“The citizens who have approached me in restaurants, recreational areas and church are not in favor of any water/sewer rate increase due to inflationary pressures,” Cochran responded Tuesday afternoon.

“One of my students wrote on the board ‘the struggle is real,’” she added regarding her work at John F. Kennedy High School in Winston-Salem.

Raises in store

Also included in Mount Airy’s preliminary budget is a 2% cost-of-living raise for all full-time municipal personnel effective July 1.

The budget for the next fiscal year reflects a total of 169 full-time employees.

Among that number are four sworn-officer positions in the Mount Airy Police Department which weren’t budgeted for previously.

This includes two that were approved by the commissioners in November to help address the local homeless situation and two others that had been eliminated from the budget earlier.

New police cars are in the mix along with other capital project items, which cover major needs relating to buildings and equipment.

Those include a new recycling truck, ballfield lights at Westwood Park, paving the parking lot at the Rockford Street fire station and more.

“While the city’s financial condition remains strong and stable presently, we anticipate some challenges over the next five years with capital projects,” City Manager Darren Lewis states in the budget message.

“To maximize the impact of local tax dollars, we are dedicated to actively seeking out grant-funding opportunities and fostering partnerships to better serve our community.”