Newton Grove OKs budget with utility hikes

Michael B. Hardison, The Sampson Independent, Clinton, N.C.
·4 min read

Jun. 15—NEWTON GROVE — The town board moved forward Monday in approving the town's proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-24, which included increases to water and sewer rates and fees.

While there's new increases to both rates, it wasn't unexpected as this was a part of an ongoing plan the board implemented early this year. That plan was put into motion with the help of the North Carolina Rural Water Association (NCRWA), meant to remedy the town's aging water system.

The plan was approved in February and put into place an immediate 43% increase to rates, which pushed water rates from $18 to $25.74 and sewer from $22.50 to $24.13. As part of this process, it was proposed the board do a continued increase of at least 5% over the next few years. According to NCRWA, this will keep the town on the path of getting out of the red and back into the black.

With that as the focus, these increases were part of the second patch of that plan.

As such, the proposed fee schedule for water fees is $27.03 for residential, $33.78 for commercial and institutional and and additional $15.02 for outside city limits. Residential water rates are $6.31 for 0-6,000 gallons; $7.49 for 6,001-20,000 gallons; $8.28 for 20,001-50,000 gallons; and $9.07 for more than 50,000 gallons. As for commercial and institutional rates, they will be $6.76 for 0-6,000 gallons, $7.88 for 6,001-20,000 gallons, $8.63 for 20,001-50,000 gallons and $9.38 for more than 50,000 gallons.

Sewer fees are will be $25.34 for residential users and $36.60 for commercial and institutional user fees. Residential sewer rates are for $5.07 for 0-6,000 gallons, $5.63 for 6,001-20,000 gallons, $6.19 for 20,001-50,000 gallons and $6.76 for more than 50,000 gallons. While commercial and institutional rates are $9.67 for 0-6,000 gallons, $10.14 for 6,001-20,000 gallons, $10.70 for 20,001-50,000 gallons and $11.26 for more than 50,000 gallons

School user fee and sewer rate were included in this as well which was $56.31 while the rater per 1,000 gallons is $8.45.

Property tax rates are 40 cents per $100 valuation and fire tax rates are at $0.75.

Since the budget was approved the amounts listed in the proposed budget go into effect on July 1 and run through until June 30, 2024. As of now, total expenditures are expected to be $610,550.

In the town's general fund, the largest of those expenditures is for police at $229,810, while general administration totals $169,340. Following that were three items each over $40,000 which included the Fire Department ($47,000), sanitation ($44,000) and streets ($43,000).

The board has a total of $404,000 set for use in the water and sewer fund with water maintenance set at $41,000 and sewer at $205,800. As for administration, the amount is $157,200.

"Basically, the biggest changes are we've added more expense to our sewer fund," Town Clerk Amanda Bradshaw said. "We've budgeted for $100,000 in that this year because it seems to keep adding up, so that was budgeted for."

The Powell Bill expenses, for street maintenance and repairs, were listed in the amount of $51,250.

"Things are going up, our health insurance is going up, of course, each year, the retirement and our FICA goes up every year," Bradshaw said during budget discussions. "We did put a little bit more money in streets this year to hopefully do a repair on a street in the near future with some Powell Bill money because we've not really used a whole lot so we need to do that."

"We did allocate money for mulch and stuff at the circle and for town hall," she said. "Also the library, we allocated some money for some repairs and maintenance for the library, because they just have things that have been overdue that need to be done."

"There's also money, I think, for one or two of the radios that the police chief talked about and those were things that we'll have to continue to buy in the next budget years," she added.

Estimated revenues from town tax collections, fees and charges are expected to cover these costs.

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.