Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220059
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: CURRENT EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
At a budget work session Monday, City Council left almost no revenue stone unturned in an effort to balance next year's proposed budget. As a result, Radford taxpayers can look forward to at least one new tax and substantial increases in most others starting July 1, if council approves the changes later this month.
In all, City Council estimates the new taxes will bring in an additional $537,000 next year.
City and school system employees would see the biggest chunk as 3 percent pay raises, a prospect that might not please city teachers and school staffers hoping for the average 3.9 percent raises the School Board approved. Another $200,000 would be earmarked to handle expenses that come up during the year.
Topping council's list of likely levies is a 10-cent increase in the real estate tax, to 73 cents per $100 valuation. If approved, the owner of an $85,000 house would pay another $85 in real estate taxes each year.
Other proposals include:
A new utility tax on cellular telephones, expected to raise $24,000. The utility tax is 20 percent of monthly bills, up to a $3 maximum for residential and $40 for commercial accounts. Cellular telephones also would pay the monthly E-911 tax of 55 cents.
Increases of 36 cents each in the furniture and fixtures and machinery and tools taxes, raising both business assessments to $1.76 per $100 valuation, expected to generate $97,000 in new money.
A $5 increase in motor vehicle decals, now $15, generating an additional $39,000.
A $5 per unit tax on beer kegs. However, Finance Director Jess Cantline warned council not to use anticipated revenues from this proposed tax to balance the budget because he's not yet sure a keg tax is legal.
For now, council has rejected a local cigarette tax, feeling it would only drive smokers across the river to Pulaski County to buy their favorite brands. Blacksburg and Pulaski have cigarette taxes, and Councilwoman Polly Corn suggested Radford first research other localities' experiences.
No changes are planned for the personal property tax, now $2.14 per $100 valuation.
To resolve an approximately $180,000 imbalance in the city's general fund, council plans to increase from 9.1 percent to 10 percent the amount the city's electric fund pays into its general fund in lieu of taxes.
Tempers flared briefly when Corn worried aloud about making ends meet. "Where is it going to come from?" she asked her colleagues. "Is it going to fall out of the sky somewhere?"
But Councilman David Worrell countered sharply that the city - with over $10 million in various reserve accounts - was a long way from being bankrupt.
During the ensuing head and pencil scratching, Worrell pushed for additional police officers and 5 percent pay raises for city workers, while Corn pressed to hold the line at every turn.
"We cannot, I repeat, cannot continue [increasing spending] and [have] the city of Radford remain viable," she said at one point.
For the rest of its budget, the School Board also would have to hold any increase over this year's spending to the 0.5 percent guideline council imposed on other city departments.
However, council already has informally agreed to let the schools keep enough unspent money from this year's budget to build an art and music classroom at Belle Heth Elementary School. Money already is available this year to build a similar addition at McHarg Elementary School. The two projects would cost $180,000.
Council also will consider reclaiming almost $250,000 now in the school budget for capital projects.
No one from the schools attended Monday's meeting.
When the rough numbers were in, less than $60,000 of the anticipated new money remained unallocated. But, that figure could increase if this year's expenditures come in slightly under budget, as City Manager Bob Asbury predicted.
Still undecided was the fate of various supplementary requests from departments and agencies that receive money from the city.
The city also needs to come up with an estimated $2 million in water plant improvements and $1 million to plan Municipal Building and Courthouse renovations among other city and school capital projects. Money for those items likely will come from bond issues, still in the planning stages.
"Have we exhausted the revenue possibilities?" Councilman Bill Yerrick asked, as he and his colleagues prepared to adjourn.
Mayor Tom Starnes responded with a question of his own. "If you hit 'em all this year, what are you going to do next year?"
by CNB