Council takes next step toward budget approval
May 20—LENOIR — On Thursday evening, May 19, the Lenoir City Council met to discuss the city's budget proposal for fiscal year 2022-2023, presented by City Manager Scott Hildebran.
The budget was based on the priorities that city council set up during their February planning retreat and in the March budget meeting.
The main priorities of city council are to continue efforts to offer competitive compensation and benefits for employees; increasing funding and support for minimum housing and code enforcement; and developing strategies to support affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing.
In order to fulfill these goals, the council wants to continue to fund and support the street-paving plan; develop master plans for The Campus, downtown, and Parks and Recreation; and establish a Human Relations Commission to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Additional priorities include implementing a Wayfinding Plan, including Greenway signage; establish area plans for Whitnel and West End; continue to fund and support technology, cybersecurity, and digital services; share state of the city presentations and re-establish community meetings; and to continue to fund and support Water and Sewer Capital Improvements Plan.
One major highlight of the proposed budget is employee compensation. Specifically, the budget includes raising minimum annual pay for all full-time positions to $30,000, as well as raising minimum annual pay for a starting police officer to $42,000.
"So many great things in that [budget] that are good for Lenoir long-term, not just short-term," said Councilman Jonathan Beal to the council. "And taking care of the employees. In this environment, we've got to be better than the rest at taking care of employees' compensation, insurance, because we've got to retain people. Other government sectors are losing people so fast they can't replace them."
The proposed general fund budget is balanced with the current property tax rate of .57 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The budget maintains the current Rescue Readiness tax rate of .85 cents per $100, for a total tax rate of 57.85 cents per $100.
The budget also includes a $1 monthly increase in the solid waste fee, bringing the total to $11 a month.
"Just for reference, I was checking around the other cities today, try to find out where they are," Hildebran told the council. "Newton, for example, their current solid waste fees are $19.45 a month. We're at $10 right now ... Hickory is currently at $25. So I think we're in the ball park there. Once the budget is adopted, like it was last year, I'll go back and make comparisons with the Unifour cities. We will be less expensive to live here than Hickory, Newton, Taylorsville, Morganton, I promise you that."
Right now, the proposed general fund budget is $20.3 million to address the council's goals. The recommended budget contains no borrowing and does not use any fund balance.
During the budget work session on Thursday night (May 19), council members discussed each item on the budget in detail and found the proposal perfectly acceptable.
"I'm just surprised at how much we get accomplished with the little amount of debt we carry," said Councilman Todd Perdue.
On Tuesday, June 7, a public hearing is scheduled for city council to consider approval of the recommended budget and to give community members a chance to speak to the council if they so choose.
View the budget proposal online at www.cityoflenoir.com/budgetproposal.
