Canton 2016 Budget Calls For More Firefighters, Reduced Taxes

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Starting Thursday, the city of Canton will kick off public hearings on its proposed fiscal year 2016 budget.

The first hearing will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6 at Canton City Hall. The hearing will be followed by the Council’s meeting.

The proposed budget sits at $37.8 million, down from $38.4 million. Broken down, the proposed levels for each of the city’s funds include:

• General fund: $13.6 million, up from $13.3 million
• Cemetery fund: $4,355, up from $600
• Confiscated assets fund: $25,000, down from $51,000
• Hotel/motel tax fund: $428,500, down from $429,736
• Rental car tax fund: $85,000, up from $70,000
• SPLOST VI fund: $4.4 million, up from $3.3 million
• Impact fee fund: $1 million, up from $820,786
• Water and sewerage fund: $14.3 million, down from $15.3 million
• Stormwater fund: $1.2 million, up from $1 million
• Sanitation fund: $1.2 million, up from $1.1 million
• Municipal Court fund: $1.3 million, up from $1 million

The city is basing its fiscal year budget on 5.85 mills, down from the current rate of 6.1 mills. Mayor Gene Hobgood said the proposed rate is actually lower than the revenue neutral rate of 5.958, the figure the city would use to collect the same amount of revenue if no property reassessments occurred.

This means the city will not have to hold the state-required three public hearings notifying the public of a tax increase.

Residents who did not see any change in their property values should see a slight reduction in their property taxes, Hobgood added.

“This is the lowest millage rate the city has seen in many years, and we were able to approve most department requests,” Hobgood said on his Facebook page. “We continued our commitment to public safety by approving 3 additional firemen. Our staff and department heads should be congratulated for submitting reasonable budget requests to fund their departments without a lot of excess. Efficiency in the provision of city services will continue to be our goal.

This year’s budget accounts for an estimated 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums; implementation of a compensation study Condrey & Associates in the amount of $187,500; one full-time patrol officer for the Police Department; three full-time firefighters; one full-time training officer for the Fire Department; and one full-time employee for traffic engineering and building maintenance.

Other items that will come out of the general fund budget include new vehicles and two license plate readers for the police department, new vehicles and equipment for the traffic engineering and streets departments, Americans With Disabilities Act modifications at parks, play structure and fence work at the Canton Paw Park, repairs to the Etowah River canoe launch and new playground equipment at Boling and Brown parks.

The city plans to make repairs to the Waste Water Treatment Plant, repair and replace water meters and make other repairs using revenue from the Water and Sewerage fund. That fund will also call for an increase in water and sewer rates, which will go into effect Oct. 1, 2015.

Those proposed increases are:

Water Rates - Residential

• 0- 2,000 gallons (minimum) base rate: from $11.90 to 12.44
• 2,000 gallons to 10,000 gallons per thousand gallons: from $5.84 to $6.10
• 10,000 gallons to 15,000 gallons per thousand gallons: from $6.99 to $7.30
• 15,000 gallons and above per thousand gallons: from $7.59 to $7.93

Water Rates - Irrigation

• 0- 2,000 gallons (minimum) base rate: from $15.39 to $16.08
• 2,000 gallons and above per thousand gallons: from $5.84 to $6.10

Water Rates - Commercial/Industrial

• 0- 2,000 gallons (minimum) base rate: from $11.90 to $12.44
• 2,000 gallons and above per thousand gallons: from $5.84 to $6.10

Sewer Rates

• 0- 2,000 gallons (minimum) base rate: from $17.86 to $18.66
• 2,000 gallons and above per thousand gallons: $8.79 to $9.19

Wholesale Rates

• Water per thousand gallons: no change from current rate of $2.35
• Sewer per thousand gallons: no change from current rate of $4.11

SPLOST revenue is slated to fund a proposed East Canton monument, make improvements to the Boling Park roadway and parking lot, Wooded Mountain Trail improvements, phase one of the Etowah River Park to Heritage Park trail and the Laurel Canyon fire station.

Repairs to the Canton Creek bridge and the trail connecting Heritage and Boling parks will be funded with impact fee dollars.

A second public hearing will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20.

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Image via Shutterstock