The Henderson City Council is expected to adopt the 2023-24 budget at its June 12 meeting, with a few adjustments that have been made since the proposed budget was presented on May 8.
Those changes include a 3.8-cent tax increase, a $3 increase in sanitation rate and 50 percent reduction in non-payment fees for water/sewer customers, from $50 to $25.
City Manager Terrell Blackmon said the tax increase would mean an extra $318,437 in additional revenue for the city. The increase in sanitation fees will add $196,200, Blackmon said.
Council member Lamont Noel told WIZS News Friday afternoon that the council had reached consensus on the changes over the course of a string of budget work sessions, the most recent of which included a public hearing that took place Tuesday, May 31.
No member of the public spoke for or against the proposed budget at the public hearing, and no member of the council said anything of substance during the May 31 meeting.
A June 5 budget work session that had been announced on the city’s website has been cancelled, according to information from Blackmon Friday afternoon.
The next chance for the public to comment on the budget will be during a public hearing scheduled to take place at the beginning of the June 12 City Council meeting.
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These proposed increases would be the first since 2014, and Blackmon said there could be a slight increase in the water rate as well, now that financing for the Kerr Lake Regional Water System has been secured. That increase hasn’t been determined yet and it’s still being studied.
“Additional revenues will help sustain a stable fund balance to balance the budget and to help meet increased costs related to salaries, utilities, supplies such as chemicals, and other expenses impacted by inflation,” Blackmon stated Friday.
He added that the Council has a policy of maintaining a 30 percent fund balance available in reserves during periods of declining revenues, to be used for emergencies and unforeseen expenses.
It may take a couple of years before the budget is “revenue neutral,” he added. The upcoming county tax revaluation will take effect in January 2024, so that could mean more dollars coming to the city coffers, which would keep the fund balance at a healthy level.