ELIZABETHTOWN — The Elizabethtown Council unanimously adopted its 2009-10 budget presented by Town Manager Eddie Madden on Monday. That budget boasts of a tax rate that will remain at 0.615 cents per $100 valuation.

Madden told the Journal in an interview on Tuesday there are no expected reductions in the labor force and the newly-adopted budget has no cost of living adjustments to employees.

“We reduced the size of the budget by about 7 percent overall,” said Madden on Tuesday.

The reason for the reduction is in anticipation of reduced revenues from the state due to the poor economy, according to Madden.

The budget does carry a 3 percent fee increase in sanitation and sewer fees. The town is also implementing a mandate from the state for a new fee schedule, said Madden.

“As a result of the drought in the last year or two the state has been saying to the towns they need an inclining fee schedule,” said Madden. “On average it works to be about 3 percent for residents. The more gallons you use, the more it will cost.”

The new fee schedule will impact only residential users. Madden told the Journal the only residents that will likely see any significant increase in their bills are those that  use large amounts of water.

“We did make some adjustments to our zoning and permitting fees to bring us in line with our surrounding areas,” said Madden.

In other business:

• The council approved an insurance package for employees. According to Madden, the policy as it was written increased exponentially, so the town made adjustments in the policy so the town could continue to afford it. 

“There will only be a slight increase to the total out-of-pocket expenses. For example, the cost of a doctor’s office visit goes from $20 to $25 for a primary care physician,” said Madden.

• The council discussed the proposed Business Improvement District tax and adopted a 0.7 cents rate. The monies raised by the BID will be used to cover the loan for the downtown improvements. The vote was unanimous.

• The council decided to implement a facade grant program as a method of enhancing the town’s services to the commercial district, according to Madden. It will function similar to the facade grant program offered by Bladen’s Bloomin’ Agri-Industrial. The board set aside $6,000 to offer the program.

• The council approved the engineers’ drawing for a sidewalk plan in the downtown area, but not the proposed median on West Broad Street. The board is continuing to discuss the size of the proposed center median, and Madden expects to have the issue resolved following the next meeting of the downtown revitalization committee and council members.