HAMLET — Residents of the Seaboard City will see no tax or fee increases for the upcoming fiscal year.
The Hamlet City Council on Tuesday approved the proposed budget for 2023-2024, which begins July 1.
City Manager Matthew Christian, in his budget message to the council, said the budget is balanced at just over $11 million, including: a General Fund budget of $7,362,820; an Enterprise Fund Budget of $3,488,200; and a Powell Bill budget of $217,000.
However, the city will appropriate $1.525 million from the fund balance to the General Fund “to cover the costs of capital assets and balance the budget,” Christian said.
The property tax rate will remain $0.76 per $100 of value. Property taxes are the largest source of the city’s funding.
The second-largest revenue source is the sales tax.
Christian said the city is still recovering from the change in how sales taxes are allocated that was approved by the Richmond County Board of Commissioners in 2020 — just as the municipalities were starting to work on their budgets.
“This change was the single largest loss of revenue in recent memory,” Christian said. “Natural economic growth has helped make up for some of the initial loss immediately following the change, but high inflation and increased costs of goods and services limit these gains … Deep budget cuts, limited capital investment and decreased buying power have caused many problems which are extremely difficult to manage and will take years to recover from.”
The county’s budget, approved the prior week, will offer $728,910 in aid to be split among the six municipalities. Click here to read the county budget story.
There will also be no utility rate or service fee increases for the upcoming year.
“Rate increases were reviewed with City Council during budget work sessions, but ultimately Council decided that our citizens and customers should not incur an increase…when there are so many other economic uncertainties,” Christian said, adding that the fiscal sustainability of municipal services “will be dependent on revisiting this conversation on an annual basis.”
Christian said that the fund balances for both the General and Enterprise funds “are strong” and projected that the budget “will support and maintain economic stability” for residents, customers and clients.
Despite no increases, the city will be giving employees a 4% cost-of-living adjustment “to keep up with rising wages in a competitive labor market,” according to Christian.
The city also plans to hire a full-time city planner.
Two of the largest purchases for the city will be a new garbage truck at $180,000 and a new 5,000 square-foot Public Works building at a cost of $273,000.
Christian added that the city will be investing in current facilities by replacing roofs, remodeling bathrooms and installing new safety equipment.
“Many of these purchases have been deferred in prior years, and even though they may not make headlines, these are necessary investments to maintain our existing facilities,” Christian said.
Powell Bill funding is for road maintenance and is allocated by the state from fuel taxes and taxes on vehicles bought and titled in North Carolina.
OTHER BUSINESS
Addressing the council, Christian reported that the city has received a $78,000 USDA grant in the amount of $78,000 that will be utilized for the downtown master plan.
Christian also reminded the council of the upcoming Independence Day celebration, being held a little early this year on July 1 with food trucks at both the Depot and City Lake.
Click here to read more about the event.
Councilman Eddie Martin was praised by his fellow board members for his work on facilitating the opening night of American Legion Post 49’s opening home baseball game.
Click here to read about the game.
Councilman Maurice Stuart announced several upcoming Juneteenth celebrations on Saturday in Rockingham from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and in Dobbins Heights starting at noon.
Click here to read about the celebration in Rockingham and other weekend events.
Earlier in the meeting, there was a bit of tension between resident Gerard Morrison and Christian.
Morrison suggested that there should be more diversity on the steering committee for the city’s Comprehensive Plan and when asked why he should be on it by Councilman Jesse McQueen, Morrison listed off his qualifications in a variety of sectors.
Morrison also complained that he had not received any responses from Christian. However, the city manager countered that he had not received any communication from Morrison.
As voices rose, Mayor Bill Bayless banged the gavel and threatened to have Morrison thrown out of the meeting.
The meeting adjourned following a closed session regarding personnel matters.
The council has a scheduled work session on Tuesday, June 27 at 5:30 p.m. and the next regular meeting will be July 11 at 6 p.m.
William R. Toler contributed to this story.
