(6/20) The Town’s FY-25 General Fund budget was approved at the May Council meeting, requiring Burgess Chad Weddle to break a 2-2 tie. The Water Fund budget was also approved with a 4-0 vote.
The estimated income for the FY-25 General Fund budget will have a deficit of $1,066,319 due to Capital Project expenses. To offset the difference, the Town will be adding $1,066,319 from the Surplus Fund to the revenue to "balance" the budget.
Town Manager Sean Williams explained that the deficit will be covered using surplus funds from prior years when the Town failed to spend all the budgeted monies. Williams pointed out that while the Town was fortunate to be able to draw upon this surplus, it is getting smaller each year and the ability to pull from it may soon no longer be an option.
The only other notable change in the budget from last month was the increase in General Fund expenses for police protection. Williams explained the original estimate was $1,653,637, which increased by $255,672, resulting in a total of $1,909,309 budgeted for salaries, overtime and other expenses for five resident troopers. This amount also impacts how much money will be pulled from the Surplus Fund to balance the budget.
Weddle described how Myersville and Middletown have discussed increasing their taxes to cover the cost associated with using the Sheriff’s Office for police protection. Mt. Airy has already increased taxes by 18% to cover the costs of going to private police protection, said Weddle. "Walkersville is the land of milk and honey," he said. "We do have the lowest tax rate for a municipality of our size in the State but every other expense in our life has gone up and we have to start figuring out something."
Commissioner Mary Ann Ennis was vocally against using the reserves to balance the budget. "I feel like we haven’t done enough to cut back on things that we should be cutting back on", she said.
With some of the FY-25 projects to include the purchase of equipment and renovations to the Public Works building, Ennis wondered how many of these items were necessary.
The Water Fund revenues are expected to increase by $3,431,757, primarily driven by the infusion of $3,138,837 from The American Rescue Fund Act (ARPA), which will be allotted to cover the cost of the Discovery water main replacement, which is the most substantial expenditure in the Water Fund. The remainder of the increase comes from water usage charges and the special assessment fee designed to help pay back the loan for the water plant at $100 per residence.
Williams pointed out at the previous meeting that the initial phases for the Discovery project would be covered by the ARPA funds, however the following phases will be more challenging financially. He said raising the water rates would be instrumental in paying for the rest of the project.
Commissioner Gary Baker asked what options the Town had to cover the deficits in both the General and Water Funds. "There’s not much we can do about some of this stuff. It’s very fixed," he said. "Somebody is going to have to make a decision at some point in time to raise taxes and/or the water rates." The approved FY-25 budget does not include a property tax rate increase, which will stay at 14 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Commissioners Betsey Brannen and Ennis voted against approving the budget. Since the budget is an ordinance, Weddle is allowed to break the tie and he voted alongside Commissioners Tom Gilbert and Baker in approval of the FY-25 General Fund Budget. Commissioner Mike McNiesh was absent from the meeting.
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