
DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 1997                TAG: 9705070452

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BATTINTO BATTS JR., STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   82 lines

PORTSMOUTH RAISES FEES $2.12 A MONTH, APPROVES A $276.7 MILLION BUDGET

Residents will pay more to have their water treated, their garbage removed and to use the emergency 911 service over the next year as city officials try to find money to improve the quality of life in Portsmouth.

The City Council unanimously approved a $276.7 million operating budget for the 1997-98 fiscal year Tuesday night.

The average city resident can expect to pay roughly $2.12 more a month on fees and services, which will finance $18.3 million in additional spending.

This is what city officials will do with the extra money:

Provide additional funding for the school system.

Upgrade the water and emergency 911 systems.

Provide improved and more frequent bulk trash removal by adding workers and equipment.

Increase the budget for the city's department of economic development to help attract and maintain businesses.

Increase city workers' salaries by 3 percent, in addition to a 2 percent increase in salary ranges.

Increase benefits for all retired police officers and firefighters and members of the city's retirement system by 3 percent.

Establish a fund reserve that is 10 percent of operating revenues.

The council's vote closed an unexpectedly difficult budget adoption process, City Manager Ronald W. Massie said.

With the city facing its brightest financial forecast in recent years due to economic growth and a $6 million budget surplus in 1996, city officials had expected to easily decide where to spend the public's money.

``It was tough,'' Massie said. ``I want to think that finishing last year with a surplus that it would have been easier. As you have more money you have more choices of things that you can do, and the expectations rise as well.''

The greatest expectations came from the school district, which had received an additional $500,000 in funding over last year in the original proposed budget. That drew an outcry from district officials who claimed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide students with a top-quality education and retain first-class teachers.

After negotiations with district officials and further examination of the budget, Massie proposed that the city delay some capital improvement projects to provide the schools with a total of $1.3 million in additional funds. That means the district's budget for 1997-98 will be $25.5 million, up from $24.2 million this year.

``They could probably spend more money wisely than we provided,'' Massie said of the district. ``That is probably true of every department. But everyone had to stretch to make ends meet.''

School Board Chairman Byron P. Kloeppel said he and other district officials are not satisfied with the level of funding for education.

``We are trying to get them to understand that there is more to it than economic development,'' Kloeppel said.

Because the school district did not receive all of the additional $3 million in funds it had requested, Councilman James T. Martin said he could not vote to raise the council members' salary from $13,000 a year to $18,000 a year and the mayor's salary from $15,000 a year to $20,000 a year. ``Even though this is a small amount, I cannot vote to approve this when there are so many things to be taken care of,'' Martin said.

Councilman Thomas Benn III joined Martin in voting against the proposal that was still adopted by the council on a 4-2 vote. Councilman P. Ward Robinett was absent from the meeting.

Councilman Cameron C. Pitts said he hopes people realize the difficult decisions that are involved with adopting a budget - especially in a city like Portsmouth, which is struggling to recover economically.

``We are not the richest city in Hampton Roads,'' Pitts said. ``We have to do what we can to make it better. And that's what I hope we are doing.'' ILLUSTRATION: NEW RATES

These are the fee or rate increases for services for fiscal

1997-98:

Increase in refuse fee from $14 to $15 per month.

Increase in water rate from $2.05 to $2.15 per 1,000 gallons.

Increase in sewer discharge rate from $1.136 to $1.203 per 1,000

gallons.

Increase in the Emergency 911 fee from $1.50 to $1.75 a month.

Increase in the Restaurant Food and Lodging tax from 5 percent to

5.5 percent.

Increase in Automobile License tax from $18 to $24 for

motocycles; from $23 to $25 for vehicles up to 4,000 pounds and from

$28 to $30 for vehicles over 4,000 pounds. KEYWORDS: BUDGET PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL