May 30, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The commissioners did settle one perhaps contentious matter: an increase in the size and tax rate for the downtown municipal service district. They agreed to both. The service district will now be the central core Renaissance Plan area (with a couple of exceptions) and the tax rate will be 17 cents per $100 when it had been 10 cents.

            Commissioner Stephen Barrington, as he has done in the past, said he wants to see the district tax “gone, down to zero.” Instead of the downtown property owners paying the 10-cent tax, he proposed raising the property tax town-wide to cover repaying the parking lot bonds.

            “The municipal service district tax is really insignificant,” Commissioner David Camacho said, comparing it to the money the town is spending for the Renaissance Plan and to recreate Franklin Street, “all with the intent of trying to help downtown.

            “These are monies the merchants themselves are asking to be imposed on them so they can do more,” Camacho said. “When people are asking to be taxed at a higher rate, I don’t have a problem with it.

            The town’s tax base has blossomed in recent years, and this year it is estimated to be more than two billion, $2,112,396,325 to be exact. With the tax rate at 54 cents and a collection rate of 96%, the property tax will yield $10,950,650.

            When all the sources are totaled – the general fund with its fees, the downtown service district, and the $15 million in electric sales, the town’s budget for 2007-2008 will be $38,457.420.

            Both Williams and Finance Director Aileen Staples warned the electric fund is at a critical juncture. It has invested in load management, automatic meter reading and other system improvements that make the system sturdier and more reliable. The investments will pay off in time, Williams said, but right now the system has a lot of costs and is adding $1.2 million in capital costs, including the second substation on the N.C. 98 bypass.

            Staples said they had done all they could to reduce costs to the electric system, which is operated separately from the general fund as an enterprise fund. There will be no transfer of funds from electric to the general fund, they have reduced the allocated operating and personnel costs (the time Williams, for example, spends in electric fund administration) and they will evaluate the situation in January.

            Wake Forest Power – the new name for the electric system – will have more income this year if the summer is hot and people run their air conditioners. Staples is projecting a 5% income growth for the system.

            At the same time, there is no increase in electric rates in the budget, the fifteenth consecutive year without a rate increase. The fuel charge rider is temporary, not included in the base rates and will be removed as soon as wholesale rates to the town decrease.

            Camacho asked if the town has space for the additional 10 personnel to work, and Williams said yes.

            Four of those new positions are for police officers. “We’ve been fairly successful in filling the new positions” in the police department, Williams said, although there has been some turnover.

            Major Jeff Leonard, sitting in the back, said, “We’re right on where we should be” with hiring for new positions.

            One of the reasons the Wake Forest department has been successful in competing with Raleigh and other larger departments, Leonard said, “We started a career ladder program to let them move up a little faster.” The department also pays more for candidates with degrees and with experience. “We’re getting better applicants, getter higher qualified applicants.” Leonard said Wake Forest is “right with Raleigh on starting pay.”

            The meter readers have all been shifted to new positions in the warehouse and utility billing system, Staples said.

            Bill Crabtree will have a new title, public information officer, and will be the only person in the new department.