THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
For the second year running, the City Council appears willing to put a premium on public safety as it moves through the budgeting process, which could mean more expense for taxpayers.
``I feel that we are definitely looking at a tax increase,'' Mayor H. Rick Gardner said Wednesday after the council's first budget workshop for 1995-96. ``I see willingness on the part of council to do whatever is necessary, including a possible tax increase, to meet the needs of the city.''
The council committed to very little in its preliminary discussions on the budget, but council members refused to rule out requests for nine more police officers, six new firefighters and a wastewater plant operator. Hiring them all could lead to a tax increase of as much as 10 cents per $100 of property valuation, city officials said.
The requests for 16 new positions next year were a significant reduction from what departments originally sought in last year's budgeting process. The 1994-95 budget, which resulted in a 3-cent tax increase, funded about half of the 27 new positions that departments had asked for.
``We don't have quite as big a list to deal with as we did last year,'' said City Manager Ralph Clark.
Departments were discouraged early on from asking for much this year. The council imposed a hiring freeze this winter as a warning that there would be few resources to spread around.
But public safety, and especially crime, are issues that many council members feel must be addressed despite the increasing costs. Gardner said many residents have told him they are willing to pay for more police protection.
Councilman Lloyd Griffin initially recommended that the council hold firm on its hiring freeze and create no new positions next year. But several council members, led by Mayor's Crime Commission liaison Anita Hummer, said the personnel needs required more discussion.
Also left on the table was a plan to equalize salaries that was recently presented to the council by a private consultant. That plan would cost about $278,000.
In other discussions Wednesday, Clark raised the possibility of splitting the city's public works department into two divisions, with one division concentrating on utilities. The move would be timely, he said, because Public Works Director Ray Rogerson, a 37-year city employee, has announced he will retire June 30. by CNB