Dateline: September 4, 2008

City's budget subject of public hearing Tuesday

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The City of Clarendon will hold public hearings next week on the proposed 2008-2009 municipal budget and a new tax rate.

The Board of Aldermen will accept public comments on those topics at 7 p.m. next Tuesday.

The proposed tax rate is $0.65 per $100 valuation, which is an increase from the current rate of $0.500289.

The new rate would raise the taxes on a $50,000 by $74.86. The increase on an average home in the city would be $55.58.

Paula Lowrie, Chief Appraiser for the Donley Appraisal District, told aldermen last Tuesday that appraised values in the city had increased 6.29 percent this year to $54,065,311.

“Appraised values going up in a community is a good thing,” Lowrie said. “It’s a sign of a growing economy.”

Aldermen discussed the proposed $1.395 million budget last week as they continued to deal with the rising cost of expenses.

Interim City Administrator Phyllis Jeffers said the city is facing a 26 percent increase in fuel costs and a 17 percent increase in landfill fees.

The cost of water from the Greenbelt Municipal Water Authority is also going up.

The city is looking at rate increases in all departments, and the board briefly discussed the possibility of reducing the minimum usage on water customers from 5,000 to 3,000 gallons per month as a way to increase revenue.

“You have 895 residential water meters in the city, and 755 of them use only minimum,” Jeffers said.

But aldermen decided citizens would simply reduce their usage to the new minimum and the city would not see any new income.

Jeffers said the city’s proposed budget will produce about $61,000 in reserves, which, when added to the city’s improvement fund, would be enough to cover the city’s grant obligations next year and still leave reserves for future use.

“This budget year is a transition year as we deal with rising costs and the impact of the tax freeze (on seniors and the disabled),” Jeffers said.

In other city business, aldermen heard a request from Larry Gray for funding for a proposed new activity center. The board will discuss this again at the next meeting.

The board also heard from Chandra Holman, who complained about the burned out remains of a trailer house in her neighborhood. The property is scheduled to be included in a sheriff’s sale next month, and the city will wait to see the results of that before taking action.

Jeffers addressed the city’s voting machine, which is no longer needed since the city contracts with the county for this service. That item will be placed on the next agenda to be considered as surplus property and put up for sale.