Elon town council OKs mgr.’s 5¢ property tax increase

The financial anxieties of municipal staff members wound up stealing the show on Tuesday when Elon’s town council held a public hearing about the town’s next annual budget.

In the end, the pleas of two employees who hoped to preserve their customary merit-based raise were the only remarks that the council heard when it invited the public to weigh in on the proposed spending plan that town manager Richard Roedner had previously pitched to its members.

The latest version of Roedner’s proposed budget calls for $13.6 million in outlays from the town’s general fund, which takes in revenue from various taxes and fees to fund most of the town’s services and operations.

In order to cover these costs, Roedner has proposed new fees for curbside trash collection and parking as well as a 5-cent increase in the town’s property tax rate. On the other end of the ledger, the town manager has proposed some spending reductions and – at the council’s behest – the elimination of a merit-based pay raise that he had initially suggested in favor of a higher cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for the entire municipal staff.

Preserving the piggybank

As an introduction to Tuesday’s public hearing, Roedner reminded the council that his combination of proposed fees and cuts is intended to ween the town off of its use of the “fund balance,” or financial reserves, that are attached to the general fund.

“One of the driving goals of this year’s budget was to reduce the amount we take out of our fund balance to fund our operating budget. This year we’re trying to get back to a budget that’s based on our revenues and not our savings account.”

– Elon town manager Richard Roedner

“One of the driving goals of this year’s budget was to reduce the amount we take out of our fund balance to fund our operating budget,” he recalled. “This year we’re trying to get back to a budget that’s based on our revenues and not our savings account.”

Roedner said that, in the interest of preserving these savings, he has recommended raising the town’s property tax rate from 35 to 40 cents for every $100 of value. Roedner predicted that this increase, which equates to an extra 14.3 percent on the tax bills of property owners, would bring an additional $460,000 into the town’s general fund.

In addition to this proposed property tax hike, Roedner reminded the council that he has proposed new fees for the collection of bulk trash and clunky yard waste like tree limbs as well as metered parking in parts of the community where on-street parking spaces are in high demand.

The town manager has also recommended a 7-percent fee hike in the town’s water and sewer fees, which go into a self-contained fund that sustains these utilities. Roedner had initially put this proposed increase at 6 percent – with 5 percent intended to cover fee increases from Burlington, which provides the smaller community with water and sewer treatment. Roedner had, at first, tacked on an additional percentage point to cover Elon’s own operational expenses, although he had raised it to 2 points by the time the council convened Tuesday’s hearing.

Thanks, in part, to these new fees and rate hikes, Roedner declared that his proposed outlays for the town’s general fund are $171,000 less than the sum that appears in the town’s current annual budget. HehHehh noted, however, that this reduction in costs will not be achieved without some decreases in the municipality’s payroll expenses.

Roedner went on to recall that, in consultation with the council, he has proposed to strike three vacant, full-time positions from the town’s police, fire, and recreation departments. He has also agreed to pare back certain fringe benefits for future employees and eliminated Elon’s traditional merit-based pay raise in favor of raising his proposed “cost-of-living adjustment” from 2.5 to 3.5 percent.

Roedner added that, in spite of these budgetary adjustments, he’s still penciling in $600,000 in savings to bankroll the general fund’s operations.

Staff inflection

The only public comments that the council heard about Roedner’s budget on Tuesday came from a pair of municipal staff members who were particularly concerned about the manager’s proposed changes to staff compensation.

Jerry Stoltzfus, a supervisor in the town’s public works department, objected specifically to the budget’s proposed elimination of the staff’s merit-based pay raise.

“That merit raise means a lot to me. Plus…you’re taking away a reason for people to want to go above and beyond.”

– Jerry Stoltzfus, Elon public works department

“That merit raise means a lot to me,” Stoltzfus told the council. “Plus…you’re taking away a reason for people to want to go above and beyond.”

Josh Huskey, a fleet maintenance technician for the town, likewise informed the council that he has come to rely on his merit-based raised since he joined the town’s staff eight years ago.

“This is just one real life example of how the decisions of the council can affect town employees.”

– Josh Huskey, Elon fleet maintenance technician

“This is just one real life example of how the decisions of the council can affect town employees,” he went on to note.

In response to these entreaties, mayor pro tem Monti Allison asked Roedner to provide the council with some data on how other communities are handling staff compensation.

Roedner informed the council that, among cities and towns in the central Piedmont, some 72 percent currently offer both COLAs and merit-based raises – with the COLAs averaging out to about 2.55 percent per annum. He added that, at the moment, the city of Burlington is entertaining a budget with no merit-based pay raise for staff and a cost-of-living adjustment of 3 percent.

In order to give the council a better grip on the facts, Elon’s mayor Emily Sharpe asked the town manager to provide additional information about the merit-based raises that the town’s staff have received in the past. She also asked for comparative figures on a flat bonus which councilman Michael Woods had suggested as an alternative to percentage-based increases in wages.

In the meantime, Sharpe urged the town’s angst-ridden staff members to take a look at the situation from the council’s perspective.

“We’re in a very hard position where we are telling our residents that their taxes are going up 5 cents,” she said. “I know that every one of us wants to make you feel supported. But I don’t know if we can afford it.”

Meter dismayed

As for the council itself, a particular sticking point in Roedner’s budget has been the proposed introduction of paid parking.

The town’s police chief Kelly Blackwelder had previously proposed a plan that would use electronic kiosks to collect parking fees both in the downtown area and in residential neighborhoods where on-street parking has been in short supply.

On Tuesday, Roedner emphasized that, as part of his paid parking proposal, the town would issue some sort of free permit to residents who live in the areas subject to these fees.

“We haven’t created the details of how this is going to work yet,” he added. “But there is flexibility in the model that will allow us to change what we want to do.”

In spite of this concession, mayor pro tem Monti Allison objected that, if the paid-parking proposal prevails, it would make Elon the only local community to charge visitors for the privilege of parking along public streets.

“Burlington doesn’t have paid parking,” he conceded. “Graham doesn’t have paid parking, and I don’t think that Gibsonville has paid parking.”

Other members of the council were more at ease with seeing Elon’s break ranks with its peers.

“I believe we’re the only municipality in this area that needs this,” insisted councilman Randy Orwig.

“We’ve beaten this topic to death,” added mayor Emily Sharpe, “and we’ve all agreed to move forward. If it doesn’t work, we can always go back.”

Fire tax

Aside from garnering feedback about the proposed budget, the council also held a public hearing about a plan to maintain the current tax rate for Elon’s extraterritorial fire district, where property owners pay a surcharge on their county property taxes in order to help bankroll the town’s fire department.

There was nary a peep from the public about the proposed retention of the district’s existing tax rate of 10 cents for every $100 of property value. To wit, the council voted 5-to-0 to recommend this rate to the county’s board of commissioners for its final approval.

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