City Manager Brian Alligood’s proposed 2015-2016 fiscal year budget for Washington calls for a 1.5-cents increase in the city’s property-tax rate.

“This is a direct result of legislation passed by the NC General Assembly that repeals business privilege licenses and the associated revenue for the City,” Alligood wrote in his budget message to the mayor and City Council.

The City Council has the final say concerning the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Alligood presented his recommended $61.6 million overall budget during the council’s meeting Monday. The proposed increase in the tax rate would increase the current tax rate of 50 cents per $100 valuation to 51.5 cents per $100 valuation. That means the annual taxes on a house with a tax value of $100,000 would increase by $15. “This recommended tax increase is based solely on the loss of revenue fro business privilege licenses that were repealed by the NC General Assembly during its last session,” Alligood wrote.

The proposed budget calls for a general fund (day-to-day operations) of $14.4 million, with a $47.2 million combined budget for enterprise funds (water, sewer, stormwater, electric and the like). The proposed budget calls for increasing water rates by 2 percent, sewer rates by 4 percent and stormwater rates by 20 percent.

The proposed water-rate increase equates to an increase of $5.11 a year on the average water bill. The recommended sewer-rate increase equates to an increase of $13.09 a year on the average sewer bill. The suggested increase in the stormwater fee equates to an increase of $10.48 on the average stormwater bill.

The last increase in those rates occurred seven years ago, according to Alligood.

“No changes in the rate structure of load management credits are recommended until after the NCEMPA assets sale is finalized and a cost-of-use study is completed,” Alligood told the council.

That assets sale, allowed by law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in late March, should allow many eastern North Carolina cities and towns to lower electric rates for their customers. The $1.2 billion agreement would allow Duke Energy Progress to buy stakes in power-generation facilities now owned, in part, by the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency, which includes 32 cities and towns in eastern North Carolina. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the agreement, however, approval by the General Assembly is needed for the agreement to take effect. The commission approved the agreement in December 2014. The N.C. Utilities Commission and federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will need to approve the agreement.

The 32 NCEMPA members and the Greenville Utilities Commission will need to vote in favor of the sale, within 90 days after legislation is passed.

The proposed budget keeps the transfer from the electric fund to the general fund at $479,00, the same amount as the current fiscal year. In recent years, the council has decreased that transfer, which used to be a little more than $ 1 million each year.

For additional details about the proposed budget, see future editions of the Washington Daily News.