The next Finance Committee meeting will be held Monday, March 30th at 3pm in the Christiansburg Town Hall. The 2009-2010 budget preparation continues to be the agenda.
When the Christiansburg Finance Committee held its first budget preparation meeting on Mar. 24th, it almost got off to a rocky start. The meeting began late, without the committee chair present -- this was due to a shortage of parking spaces in the town's small municipal lot, even though the meeting audience consisted of four people.
This initial meeting focused on capital improvement needs, suggested equipment expenditures, and the enterprise fund (currently, this means the town's public water and sewer system).
Four new positions will be in the budget. The town had hired an Assistant to the Town Manager several years ago to address Information Technology needs, but those responsibilities have expanded so an IT Technician is being requested. Supporting all the town PCs, software, website and networking needs a full time person with diversified knowledge and experience. The Planning Director's job accountabilities are stated as being expanded to include subdivision reviews, and sign ordinance or zoning administration responsibilities -- tasks which historically have belonged to the Town Manager. A Building Inspector Trainee will be brought on-board by January 2010, in anticipation of the current department head's retirement next summer. And, with the recent addition of about 171 acres along Moose Drive and Mudpike Road, CMS is completely within the town's borders so the town will need to provide funding for a School Resource Officer. This represents $163,341 in new salaries, exclusive of insurance, retirement and other benefits.
While it appears the town maximizes use of every vehicle or piece of heavy equipment purchased, the fleet size has grown to a point the town will purchase diagnostic equipment so its two full-time mechanics can do state inspections, along with general maintenance such as oil changes, tire rotations, brake replacements and some welding or grinding when equipment gets worn or damaged. The Finance Committee members really pushed on who had vehicles and why, age and mileage of vehicles, and questioned purchasing what looked like 16 new cars, SUVs or pick-up trucks -- more than they focused on about $55K in mowers or nearly $600K in heavy equipment.
With over $12 million in funding requests and some parring down or delaying, it became apparent much of these costs are related to infrastructure -- costs which increase significantly with growth. At some point, sewer and water lines need to provide greater capacity. State funding for road maintenance has almost been totally eliminated, and the materials used today don't provide as much durability as they did in the past. The regional water authority is increasing rates, and this means town water/sewer fees will reflect those increases. Increasing the fees for new water and sewer connections is proposed, something that hasn't been adjusted for more than a decade. These are just a few examples of how growth via boundary line adjustments or land development, related and ongoing expenses cause an expansion and increase to the size and cost of our local government. Video of meeting can be viewed here.
Tax rates, employee raises and step increases, licenses and other fees were barely touched upon in this meeting, and are expected to be the focus of the next Finance Committee meeting tomorrow. What were the revenue projections for the 2008-2009 budget and what was actually collected? Where all expenses incurred, did they come in over or under what was budgeted? Where any deferred, deleted or expected to roll into the new budget year? Does the town have a deficit or a surplus, or is it at break even? Were department heads instructed to cut existing budgets when preparing for the 2009-2010 fiscal year?
Come to Town Hall Monday and 3pm to learn more.