The Fayetteville City Council adopted the city's 2011 budget without a lot of discussion at its meeting Thursday night. While the process at the council meeting was painless, the budget reflects months of work by city leaders as they, like the everyone, struggle to cope with a down economy.
The general fund budget is approximately $9.7 million, around 4 percent less than last year's $10.1 million. The decline was spurred by a drop in sales tax revenues, building-fees and a decline in the tax digest. Combined, Fayetteville's general fund, special revenue funds, enterprise funds and capital project funds total $22,724,431 for 2011.
While sales tax revenues seem to be improving after several years of decline, it's the drop in property values that may cause taxes to increase in Fayetteville. The council will not set the millage rate until after the county tax assessor releases the tax digest--the value of all taxable property--next month, but Fayetteville Finance Director Lynn Robinson said the digest is expected to drop by 8.89 percent, which amounts to $246,181 of revenue lost to the Fayetteville. To make up for this shortfall, the city is planning to "roll up" its property taxes from last year's 2.988 mills to 3.280 mills.
In other business, the council voted to grant exemptions in impact and sewer fees to developers of properties on the south and west sides of the town square.
The council also voted to restrict pawn shops to areas zoned as industrial. The ordinance change also mentions motor vehicles, wording that makes the ordinance cover title loan businesses, said city planner Eldridge Gunn. Gunn told the council that studies have shown that property crimes go up in areas where pawn shops are located. Responding to a question from Councilman Paul Oddo, Gunn said there are no pending business license applications for pawn shops, but several pawn shops have inquired about the city's rules.
The flagging economy does have some positive points, Mayor Ken Steele pointed out. The council must approve the city's official zoning and land use maps annually. This year both were unchanged since no new developments required rezonings.
Steele also noted that 16 bids were submitted for the connecting sidewalks project that was on the consent agenda. The mayor noted that usually two or three bids would come in for a project such as this, but in these tough times, many companies are looking for work. "The city got good, below estimate, bids," he commented. The contract was awarded to Glosson Enterprises for $408,552. The project includes sidewalks along White Road, Hood Avenue and Highway 92 North.
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