The Down East Seniors Club held its Jan. 27 meeting at the Blind Center of North Carolina in Washington. President Ed Hamrick led the meeting. Chip Ide led the singing of “God Bless America” and Stewart Rumley gave the invocation. Dick Paul provided humor.

Bobby Roberson introduced Matt Rauschenbach, chief financial officer for the City of Washington. Rauschenbach spoke about city finances, especially the budget. He will soon begin to work on a new budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The City Council has until June 30 to approve the budget, but they usually try to complete it by the end of May. The current city budget totals $77 million dollars a year. The general fund is $14.5 million, of which about half is obtained from property tax and sales tax. The city property tax rate is 50 cents per 100 dollars of valuation. Long-term debt is $7.6 million, down from almost $14 million five years ago. The current fund balance is $6.9 million.

Bill Cates won the 50/50 drawing.