WHITE LAKE — Commissioners have bagged a leaf and limb fee and will instead immerse the town in costs for management of the lake water.
In a Tuesday meeting to discuss the fiscal year 2020-21 budget, a proposed document balanced at more than $3.5 million will be presented at the next meeting in June. A public hearing is required, and commissioners — if meeting in person — may move forward with formal adoption.
Should the meeting happen by electronic means, a 24-hour period after the meeting for public comment would be required by law. The budget is to be in place July 1, the start of the fiscal year.
Tuesday’s 75-minute discussion, held through the internet application Zoom due to the coronavirus restrictions, centered on plugging a hole estimated to reach more than $87,000. It is primarily the sum of sales tax revenue declines due to the virus, projected at $45,000; loss of earned income from interest due to the federal rate dropping, projected at $28,000; and not getting a grant for the Fire Department that is hit-and-miss year to year, which was $14,439 in the 2019-20 budget.
Mayor Goldston Womble explained a proposal with three options to cover the losses was devised in consultation with Amber Glisson and Brenda Clark. Glisson is the town’s accountant and deputy finance director, and Clark is the town’s administrative services director.
The first option would require cutting a substantial amount of expenses, the second was a tax increase of about 2 cents per $100 valuation, and the third was a lake water management fee. Womble also opened the floor for commissioners to generate other options.
“We had talked about doing a lake water management fee, and adding it in per resident and commercial unit,” Womble said. “We had not put it in initially this year because of the leaf and limb fee. We didn’t want folks to have two different increases, and didn’t want to put additional strain on businesses. At best, it’s going to be a difficult summer.”
The leaf and limb fee, upon further review, was going to target some but not all residents and businesses. Choosing a tiered approach, based on residence or business, for the lake’s management was deemed the better option and capable of generating about $64,000 of the shortfall.
Other various adjustments in the budget bring it into balance.
If the plan is adopted, the residential fee would be $2 per month, or $24 a year, and the commercial rate would be 50 cents per unit per month. Womble went through several estimated examples of the commercial rate in various businesses, saying the fee would generate amounts depending on the number of units.
For commercial places that don’t have individual meters, owners would likely be passing along the cost to customers.
Commissioner Paul Evans asked if the lake water management fee would be one time or ongoing; Womble said the intent is to retain it going forward.
Commissioner Tim Blount raised a question about cost of living pay raises of 1.5 percent in the budget. Womble and commissioners were of consensus to keep it in, though there are no merit raises included.
“The problem I’ve encountered,” said the mayor of this residential resort community since 1985, “when we haven’t done it, it’s like the old commercial: pay me now or pay me later. At some point, it catches up with us.”
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