Haw River town manager Sean Tencer presented his town council with a proposed budget for 2025-2026 Monday night, that proposes largely a status quo continuation of the town’s current spending levels.
Mayor Lee Lovette pronounced Tencer’s spending plan as a “bare-knuckled” budget.
The tax rate remains unchanged at 44 cents per $100 valuation.
Lovette said that Haw River is “unique” because of its “older population,” which he said “has really suffered from revaluation.”
Tencer, saying he was taking a more conservative approach in estimating the second largest source of revenues, sales taxes. Tencer noted that the North Carolina League of Municipalities has sent all municipalities correspondence suggesting that sales tax revenues should be estimated at a 2.8 percent increase during the next fiscal year.
However, “To be cautious about overestimating sales tax revenue,” Tencer said he assumed only a 1.8 percent increase in overall sales tax revenues for the fiscal year, a difference of about $9,759.00.
Tencer includes a 3 percent across-the-board raise for all town employees.
The North Carolina League of Municipalities, which had provided the town’s health plan for medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, and life insurance, had notified the town of its intention to stop offering such coverage. Instead, the town will use the HILB group and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which Tencer said “offered a similar plan that closely matched our existing plan.”
Like all local governments in the state, the town will be required to contribute a higher percentage of salaries to the state retirement program: 14.35 percent, up from 13.60, for non-sworn employees; and 16.1 percent for sworn officers, up from 15.1 percent.
Tencer noted the irony that this is the seventh consecutive year of increases in what was portrayed as a five-year increase period when the state first initiated the increases.
Garbage and recycling rates will increase by $2.06 per month.
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Tencer told the council that he had not included several capital expenses requested by two town departments: he did not include a new police vehicle ($65,000) or one for public works ($54,000).
Tencer did pencil in a $30,000 cost estimate to erect an 8-foot-high fence between the two softball fields, noting the town’s hope that doing so would bring in more softball/baseball tournaments to the town’s park. “One of the main complaints (of the present situation),” he explained, “is that the fence is too short between the two fields to have tournaments.” He expects the project to “pay for itself eventually when the fields are rented out more frequently for tournaments.”
Water and sewer fees are proposed to increase 5 percent, which is attributed to increased prices of the same rate from the city of Burlington, which provides those services for the smaller town.
The minimum water and sewer bill will increase, Tencer outlined, from $65.50 to $69.90, including the $2.06 increase for garbage and recycling charges.
The town council will hold a public hearing on the budget at its next meeting, June 2, at 6:00 p.m.
