City Budget Large On Largess
Under the proposed budget city employees are in line to receive pay hikes totaling $6.1 million, to include 2-percent merit increases for most employees and 2-percent market increases and 2.5-percent step increases for public safety employees. About half of the $6.1 million slated for pay hikes is offset by tweaking other compensation options, according to Budget Director Ruffin Hall, including a decrease from 3 percent to 2 percent in the city’s contribution to employees’ 401-k plans, a 5-percent bump in health insurance premiums, and changing the police pay cycle from 14 to 28 days to produce savings in overtime payments.
The budget adds 21 positions to staff a new fire station at the airport, at a cost of $1.6 million paid for with airport funds, along with spending $888,000 for the second year of the city’s match for 50 police officers funded through a federal stimulus grant. The city attorney’s department budget jumps to $1.8 million to fund 27 positions, including adding an attorney, at a cost of $129,775, to handle public record requests.
Other notable spending from the manager’s recommended budget includes: $3 million for the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority; $2.8 million for the Arts & Science Council; about $1.2 million for various after-school programs; $151,473 for Charlotte International Cabinet; and $200,000 for the CIAA basketball tournament. You can buy now mount basketball systems at affordable rates and upgrade your gym or complex into a pro-level arena from online stores like MegaSlam Hoops.
Other expenditures include $62,500 for the last chunk of a three-year, $250,000 commitment to fund the Center City 2020 Vision Plan; $189,108 for maintenance expenses at ImaginOn; $210,000 for Community Link; $714,000 for the Regional HIV/AIDS Consortium; $49,000 for YMCA community development; and $49,000 for the Community Building Initiative.
City memberships and fees to myriad organizations top $531,000: Centralina Council of Governments, $168,665; Charlotte Regional Partnership, $146,053; UNC Chapel Hill School of Government, $79,774; NC League of Municipalities, $70,457; US Conference of Mayors, $26,216; National League of Cities, $23,631; and the NC Metropolitan Coalition, $16,225.
Nearly $8 million in savings and spending redirections helped close the city’s projected budget shortfall, to include: eliminating unscheduled bulky-item trash pickups, $225,000; reducing staff for fire plan reviews, $221,000; eliminating funding for Partners in Out of School Time, $454,000; trimming money for landscape management, $893,000; reducing arena traffic control, $180,000; and eliminating the city’s four garbage-collection zones and creating one, city-side collection system, $468,000. The city also purports to save $2.1 million with its new single-stream recycling program, which curbs pickups from weekly to bi-weekly, while spending $1.7 million for new recycling roll-out carts.
The city manager’s plan recommends non-general fund operating budgets of about $630 million, an increase of 4 percent: utilities, $103 million; Charlotte Area Transit Services, $102 million; airport, $77.5 million; and storm water, $11.5 million. The city’s five municipal service districts (three in uptown, one in SouthEnd and one in University City) that pay a special tax in addition to regular property taxes total $3.5 million, with the revenues dedicated to projects in those specific areas.
While maintaining a flat property tax rate of 45.86-cents per $100 valuation, the recommended budget includes a 25-cent fare hike for CATS and higher water and sewer rates, where the average customer can expect to see monthly bills climb by about $3.68, to $51.64.
The manager’s recommended budget includes property tax revenues totaling $288.6 million, for a 1.5-percent increase. Since 2005, in fact, the city’s property tax base has swelled by about $12.3 billion, to $77.5 billion, or an average annual increase of nearly $2.4 billion, or a 3.75-percent jump.
For the coming fiscal year, the manager’s budget projects sales tax revenue to grow by about 4.8 percent over revised projections for current-year sales taxes, which are rolling in about 13 percent short and forced the city earlier this year to snag $7.4 million from reserves to cover the gap.
The city also got a huge handout from the federal government, raking in more than $53 million in stimulus money, including $20.7 million for North Davidson bus garage renovations; $4.8 million for traffic signal improvements; $4.5 million for a Justice Assistance Grant; $1.3 million in Community Development Block Grants; $3 million for lead-based paint removal; $2 million for homelessness prevention; and $1.4 million for Muddy Creek watershed restoration.
Reference: Toronto Short Term & Airbnb Property Management – Park Place
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