Centerville budget proposal includes 1-mill increase

CENTERVILLE — City officials heard details Tuesday of a proposed $7,365,018 total budget for the coming 2010-11 fiscal year.

Officials said the budget includes across-the-board scale backs but will still mean a proposed 1-mill tax increase for property owners. Centerville City Administrator Patrick Eidson said the increase translates to about $40 on property valued at $100,000.

In a detailed presentation, Eidson showed a proposed general fund budget totaling $3.7 million, a 2.75 percent decrease of $105,628 from 2009-11. The decrease was achieved through cuts in the operating budgets of general fund departments, except for the city’s fire and streets departments.

Eidson said the proposed plan does not include salary increases based on performance or cost of living adjustments, nor does it allow for new full-time positions.

Eidson said the proposed budget for enterprise fund departments — which are not funded through taxes but supported through revenues earned, such as the water and sewer department — totaled $3.2 million, a decrease of $493,125 from the current budget.

Remaining budget funds totaled $389,382.

Though total proposed expenditures in the plan are $7,365,018, total revenues included in the presentation were $7,024,355. Eidson said the difference will be made up with the proposed 1-mill increase and a proposed 10-percent increase in water and sewer rates for the enterprise revenue-based department.

Tuesday’s council meeting was the first reading of the proposed budget. A second reading will be during the council’s work session June 15. Mayor John Harley said the plan is still subject to change prior to that date.

The proposed increase in water and sewer rates also received its first reading Tuesday and will have a second reading, and possible final approval, June 15. Speaking of the increase, Councilman Edward Tucker said it was not a profit generating increase, but brought fees in line with costs. Harley said there had not been a rate increase since 2005.

Eidson said in putting the proposed budget together, he, council members and department heads worked to trim expenses without cutting back services.

Even if the proposed budget is passed as is, the proposed 1-mill increase will have to be passed as a separate measure, Eidson said. He said the measure would then be taken up again after the tax digest is set in late August or early September. Rebecca Tydings, Centerville city attorney, said the proposal would require three public hearings before passage.