By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
Belhaven’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2010-2011, which was formally introduced to the Town Council on Friday, calls for decreasing the town’s property-tax rate or fees of any sort.
The budget includes a recommended decrease in the property tax rate from 52 cents to 45 cents per $100 valuation, which creates a revenue-neutral tax rate based on the county’s recent revaluation. Generally, some town taxpayers will pay more in property taxes in the next fiscal year, some will pay less and others will pay the same because of revaluation.
Overall, the town’s general fund is expected to be down $143,936 from the current fiscal year.
“We have crafted a budget for these times,” said Town Manager Guinn Leverett.
The proposed budget doesn’t include any salary or wage increases for town employees, according to a budget copy provided to the Washington Daily News.
The town expects to generate $3,132,300 in revenue from the electric fund, as compared to $2,295,558 to date this fiscal year.
At its March 22 meeting, the council increased electric rates by 10 percent. The increase came less than two years after the council cut the town’s power rates by 2 percent.
Of the $3,132,300 the town expects to receive, $588,833 is set to be transferred to its general fund. This fiscal year, the town transferred $96,700, or $492,133 less than what will be transferred in the coming fiscal year, to its general fund.
Recreation expenditures are expected to jump $8,138 from $99,636 this fiscal year to $107,774 in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That increase can be attributed to an additional $3,000 for the midget football league and an additional $5,000 for department supplies and material.
Finance expenditures are expected to jump from $216,985 to $244,976 thanks to, among other things, $6,500 to be used for equipment.
Police expenditures are set to increase from $660,410 to $688,022 because of a $6,000 jump in overtime and court costs and a $7,000 increase in retirement expenses.
Fire department expenditures should drop $166,491 from $223,697 to $52,206, thanks, in large part, to the expected completion of renovations to the Belhaven fire station. To date this fiscal year, maintenance and repair to buildings and grounds have cost the town $186,380, according to the proposed budget.
Expenditures for all other departments are expected to stay the same or change slightly from the current budget.
Leverett called the proposed budget a “starting point” toward finalizing the 2010-2011 fiscal year budget.
“We think we’re going to have those kinds of revenues,” he said.
Leverett said he would hold out on his recommendations for the proposed budget until council members have had a chance to review it and report back to him.
“After any feedback, I will respond to the manager-recommends line,” he said.
On Friday, Leverett said he hadn’t heard from the council or mayor in regard to the proposed budget.
“Nobody has called me with any questions. I know they’ll call me when they need me,” he said.
The town will hold a budget workshop June 14 at 5:30 p.m. in the Belhaven Civic Center, to be followed by a public hearing on the proposed budget at 7 p.m.
“Then all that’s left is finalizing,” Leverett said.
The budget is expected to be approved by the council at its June 28 meeting.
Leverett said the proposed budget is a good example of doing more with less.
“I’m trying to make sure everyone understands we’re $150,000 down from year to year,” he said.
Leverett said he’s enjoyed mentoring the town’s new finance officer, Kyle Dehaven, who joined the town’s administration after the current budget was finalized.
“I’ve let him get his feet wet and gain experience,” said Leverett, who constructed the current budget