City budget set for adoption following public hearing

While the public still has time to address concerns regarding the proposed budget for the city of Graham, only one citizen made their voice heard last week at a public hearing following a budget presentation.

The city hosted a public hearing for their proposed amended budget Thursday, Aug. 15 before their regular council meeting. Carol Willis, a Graham property owner, spoke and said those who are on a fixed income and older have no advocate in discussions for raising the tax rate and other service rates.

“You know them because they’re your friends or your neighbors, they’re your relatives that are on a very fixed income. I’m not saying that you have not done a good job trying to get this as low as you can... but they have no more money,” Willis said. “When we raise even a little bit of tax, it doesn’t sound like a lot. If you’re making $1,200 a month or less, that’s a lot. ...I know we’re looking at water and sewer and trash (increases), those are services they have to have if they live in the city, even when they can’t afford them. Now they don’t water their yard, they don’t go out and buy, they don’t go on a vacation, they don’t go to a retreat, they’re just trying to survive.”

The city has eight major operating funds which are the general fund, water and sewer fund, garbage fund and special purpose funds for the Young County Arena, Graham Municipal Airport, Library of Graham and Hotel Occupancy, or Visit Graham.

City Manager Eric Garretty said in previous budget meetings that his reasoning for proposing the tax increase is to continue to provide for core services in the general fund such as Graham Police Department, Graham Fire Rescue and the streets department. 

While maintaining those core areas, he said he wanted areas for necessary expansion and to keep the workers required to accomplish the tasks of those departments. 

“It is my understanding that we as a city desire to continue to provide core city services such as police protection, fire protection and street maintenance,” Garretty said. “As a city, we desire to maintain current levels of service across all existing programs and activities, while also providing for program expansion where it’s deemed essential. And we desire to maintain a stable, trained and resilient workforce to accomplish the necessary tasks to support our citizens.”

This sentiment was echoed by council member Jack Little following the public hearings Thursday, who said the city has a lot of issues that have gone unaddressed.

“We have an obligation to our city, to our citizens, to supply these services. ...It’s like in any business, when the money’s flowing, it covers up a lot of stuff going on. But when the money’s not, then there’s a little deal that kicks in, and everybody hates it and I hate it with passion, it’s called micromanaging,” he said. “Now, I think that’s where we’re at here in the city at this point right now. We’ve got to micromanage what’s going on here to reduce costs the best we can that are handed down.”

Before the public hearing on the budget, the city manager shared updated budget information, including the new proposed tax rate.

During the second reading of the tax rate Thursday, Aug. 1 the council approved lowering the rate from the proposed rate of $0.665 per $100 valuation to $0.655 per $100 valuation, which will remain an increase of 3.14% over the current rate of $0.635 per $100 valuation.

Due to the changes in the proposed tax rate, the amount of revenue raised through property taxes lowered, according to Garretty.

“This budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by an amount of $401,640, which is a 14.94% increase in last year’s budget. And of that amount, $58,451 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year,” he said. 

The city manager said the budget prioritizes street repair and rehabilitation and concrete curb and gutter repair with a budgeted amount of $875,000, provides an average cost of living raise of 4% and replaces two aging GPD vehicles which will be leased at a rate of $26,100 per vehicle, per year.

“It (also) provides two additional personnel to the streets department for alleyway maintenance, $60,000 for one full-time employee and the remainder for a part-time employee. It provides a dedicated general fund reserve to meet unexpected budget demands totaling $134,000,” he said. “It provides for the sustainment of our water system through rehabilitation of the city’s water storage tanks with a budgeted amount of $500,000. It initiates the preliminary design and cost estimation process for the rehabilitation of our 44-year-old sewer plant. Those initial engineering costs are estimated at $530,000 in the budget.”

Garretty broke down the $34.8 million budgeted for the upcoming fiscal year and what contributes to the bulk of each section.

“(A total of) $10.5 million is dedicated to capital improvements, improving and sustaining our city for not only ourselves, but our children and grandchildren who desire to make Graham their home. Of that amount, $7.4 million is grants that we hope to get. It’s not $10.5 million that’s already budgeted, if we get the grants and work it out, then we’ll be able to execute the projects,” Garretty said. “(A total of) $8.8 million (is budgeted) for general fund departments, $8.1 million for water and sewer maintenance, $6 million for special purpose funds, which includes that garbage fund and lakes fund... and $1.4 million for debt service.”

The city is budgeting for an anticipated $3.6 million in revenue from property taxes. In the general fund alone, police, fire and streets account for $8.8 million, or 62% of expenditures.

“(Police and fire) total over $3.8 million. So just to provide adequate public safety for the citizens of Graham is more than we’re proposing to collect in property taxes alone,” Garretty said. 

The council delayed adoption of the budget on or after Thursday, Aug. 29 to refine the numbers or administrative errors in the budget, as well as receive additional input from the public.