ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE HAGER-SMITH THE ROANOKE TIMES
A new pay plan for city employees and special projects such as a downtown parking lot are priorities in this year's city budget.
The Radford City Council is considering a 5 percent increase in its budget for next year to be paid for by raising the city's real-estate tax rate by 3 cents.
The increase should generate an additional $120,012 in revenue for the city's nearly $50 million budget.
The 3-cent change would increase the tax rate to 71 cents on each $100 valuation of a piece of real estate. For example, a person who owns a $100,000 house would pay $710 in taxes compared with $680 at present, a $30 increase.
The council will give final approval to a new budget on April 21 following a public hearing on April 14.
A new pay plan for city employees is the major change in this year's budget.
A 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all employees and step increases averaging an additional 2 percent will give most workers a 4 percent pay increase this year. It will cost $49,347 in increased salary costs and an additional $20,000 in administrative costs to implement.
The new plan may eventually become a merit pay system. It calls for 16 employee classifications, each containing 10 salary steps of 1 percent. Instituting merit pay would require creating an evaluation process, with review by the city manager and an appeals policy, according to City Manager Bob Asbury.
The plan replaces a cumbersome system of 28 classifications that remained unused as council granted annual across-the-board increases to municipal workers.
Council met in special budget work sessions throughout March. All boards, agencies and Radford municipal departments were allowed a 3 percent spending increase this year. About half of the two dozen organizations funded by the city, including the Radford School Board, submitted supplemental budgets for special initiatives that could not be adequately funded by the basic increase.
The fiscally conservative council - under pressure to fund major improvements to the Municipal Building, recreation facilities, the police station, as well as the central business district - approved just six supplemental requests. Council voted:
$50,000 for possible construction of a 49-space parking lot and central square at Norwood and Virginia streets, the site of the old First and Merchants Bank building. Negotiations are under way with the owners of the building, which would have to be razed.
$9,000 to the Department of Social Services, which sought twice that amount to remedy the chronic understaffing that has plagued the department. The department is under Food Stamp Corrective Action. This is a state-imposed punitive action based on past error rates that will increase the department's workload further. It also threatens to cost $14,000 in reimbursements if the department fails to meet state requirements.
$9,165 to repave the parking lot at the Radford Senior Center.
$7,000 for a temporary parking lot at the library.
$2,490 to improve drainage on the two infields at Veterans Park. The fields generate revenue directly for the Parks and Recreation Department, as well as indirectly for city businesses by attracting visitors to the city with out-of-town league tournaments.
$2,686 to the Free Clinic of the New River Valley, to be used exclusively for medications.
Radford's real-estate tax rate was last increased during the second half of 1995, when it jumped from 63 cents to the current 68 cents per $100 valuation.
Final action on the budget and tax increases is scheduled for the April 21 meeting, however, council may amend the budget or choose to lower the tax increase even after final action is taken.
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