ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
Roanoke residents could expect to see "one-armed bandit" garbage trucks, cleaner neighborhoods and better-maintained rental housing under the $152.5 million fiscal 1997 budget proposal that was unveiled Monday by City Manager Bob Herbert.
But taxpayers would not get a greenways coordinator, any additional money for future snow removal or a city presence at foreign trade shows - three things on a list of $2.9 million in budget requests that were not recommended for funding.
Herbert's proposal, which City Council is expected to act on in May, is slightly more than $6 million higher than the budget for the current fiscal year.
It envisions no increase in any city tax rates. However, homeowners will be paying more in real estate taxes because of increases in assessments of their properties.
City Council members lauded the budget proposal at Monday afternoon's meeting.
"I'd like to commend the city manager and staff for bringing us a budget without any cutbacks in services," Councilman Wendell Butler said. "This is all done without a tax increase. That's almost a miracle in these times."
The single largest new cost in the proposed budget is for salary increases for city employees. They would average about 4.5 percent and cost taxpayers $2.58 million next year.
Another large chunk of money - $1.8 million - would go to the city school system and allow for expanding pre-kindergarten classes at elementary schools and an average 7 percent wage increase for teachers.
The city will hold a public hearing on the budget proposal April 29 at 7 p.m. in the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibition Hall. Council is expected to adopt a final budget May 13, following work sessions on May 8, 9, and 10.
Council usually does some tinkering with the proposed budget, but not much.
Herbert billed the budget as light on tax increases and heavy on long-term strategies to improve neighborhoods.
Increased trash and the deteriorating condition of some of the city's rental housing "are the issues that neighborhood leaders and people who live in the communities talk to me about the most," he said at a Monday morning news conference.
"If there's ever a budget that recognizes that neighborhoods are a driving force behind a strong community, this budget is it," Herbert said when unveiling it to council Monday afternoon.
He has proposed $883,000 in new initiatives:
* One of the biggest impacts city residents would see under the proposed budget is in the area of trash collection. Herbert has proposed spending $535,000 to implement the first phase of an automated trash-pickup system.
For curbside collections, the new system would use new "one-armed-bandit" trucks much like Roanoke County uses. The trucks require only a driver, rather than a driver plus two crewmen.
Alley pickups would be maintained using trucks outfitted with automatic rear end loaders.
All homes would be given, at no cost, large flip-top trash cans. The size would vary according to need.
The program would begin in January 1997 and is expected to be fully phased in by January 1998. The cost of the second phase, an estimated $1.62 million, would be covered in the fiscal 1998 budget.
Ultimately, the automated system is expected to save taxpayers $700,000 annually because it would require 25 fewer workers to handle the same amount of trash that's being picked up now.
Those workers wouldn't be laid off. Instead, the cuts would come through attrition or transfers to other departments.
Aside from the eventual savings, Herbert said, the major benefit would be less trash strewn about communities.
More than 50 percent of the garbage collected now is loose or in plastic bags that are easily ripped open by animals, he noted.
"We've got trash scattered in alleys and yards," Herbert said. By using city-supplied garbage cans with flip-top lids, "we will end up having cleaner neighborhoods.
Residential recycling is also being expanded from 23,000 homes that get the service now to 34,000.
* Another improvement Herbert is banking on is the general look of Roanoke's housing stock.
The budget proposes the beginnings of a rental inspection program that will ultimately lead to regular inspections of 4,700 rental units in 11 designated areas of Roanoke - predominantly older sections of the city near downtown.
The aim is to improve both the exterior look of rental housing and to eliminate health and safety threats posed by code violations
"The long-term impact is that we want to reverse the trend we have experienced where single-family homes are converted into two or more rental units," Herbert said. "Over the long term, we want citizens to be able to drive down a street and not see any difference in the look of a house that is a rental unit and one that is owner-occupied."
* The proposal also targets $25,000 for a program about to be unveiled to help the city reduce the number of teen-age pregnancies. That funding will be used to help get matching state and federal grants and to coordinate teen-age pregnancy prevention programs.
* The city would also spend $56,000 next year on a campaign to keep residents informed of city news by purchasing advertising space in The Roanoke Times and Roanoke Tribune.
Copies of a pamphlet the city has published about the proposed budget are available at city libraries and at City Hall. It also will be distributed to neighborhood groups.
BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS
Total recommended budget: $152.5 million, a $6 million spending increase (4.1 percent) from the current fiscal year.
Revenues from locally generated taxes and from the state and federal government are projected to increase $6 million.
Real estate tax rate remains $1.23 per $100 of assessed value, but property owners will pay more because of rising property assessments. All other tax rates also will remain the same.
The city is soliciting comment on the recommended budget at a 7 p.m. public hearing April 29 in the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibition Hall.
Major spending increases/new initiatives:
- $2.58 million for an employee pay raise averaging 4.5 percent.
- $1.81 million in increased funding for city schools, including $150,000 to expand pre-kindergarten classes at elementary schools.
- $535,000 to begin automating refuse collection with "one-armed bandits" and automatic rear loaders.
- $103,468 to offset federal funding losses for Valley Metro.
- $89,065 to pay for a rental inspection program in designated areas close to downtown.
- $56,000 for "City Page" advertisements in The Roanoke Times and Roanoke Tribune
- $25,000 to help implement recommendations of a city task force trying to reduce teen pregnancy.
Items NOT recommended for funding next year:
- $300,000 requested by the Public Works Department for additional paving.
- $147,000 requested by Public Works in additional money for snow removal.
- $130,000 in additional Mental Health Services funding.
- $100,000 for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer mapping project.
- $28,000 for a greenways coordinator requested by the Community Development Office.
- $24,000 for an additional animal control officer requested by the Police Department.
- $10,000 for expenses for foreign trade shows requested by the Economic Development Department.
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Proposed Roanoke City budget.by CNB