The City Council is considering a $4,764,526 general fund budget for the 1992-93 fiscal year, up 8.93 percent from the current year's budget.
To increase revenues and avoid shortfalls in the new budget, the council is planning to increase the franchise tax on telephone, electricity and natural gas from 4 to 6 percent. The tax on city water use will also rise to 6 percent, and several other fee increases are planned as well.A public hearing to approve the final budget will be held Tuesday, June 16, 7 p.m., in City Council chambers.
"It's been a real challenge for Clearfield City to address this budget," Mayor Neldon E. Hamblin told the City Council during a special budget meeting.
Hamblin said operating costs have continued to rise, while revenues have not. He said the city went through more than five different drafts of the budget before the proposed budget materialized.
"It's a mean and lean budget," Hamblin said, stressing it wasn't compiled in a vacuum and that city leaders have been sensitive to all areas of the city in creating the new budget.
Hamblin praised the City Council and department heads for their hard work in drafting the proposed budget. He said one work session in May began in the early evening and lasted until 1:30 a.m.
The increase in the franchise tax will add about $400,000 to the city budget and should prevent the shortfall that occurred in the current year's budget. That general fund shortfall, mainly caused by health and liability insurance costs, was compensated by a transfer from the city's enterprise fund and a decrease in construction and equipment spending.
Hamblin said the city's property tax rate has been reduced annually the past few years and he feels it is only fair that the revenue increases in the new budget include franchise fee increases that will weigh heaviest on the Freeport Center - the city's largest utility user.
In addition to the franchise fee increases, residents will also pay an extra $2.80 monthly on sewer bills and $1.85 more on monthly garbage costs, and those who have extra garbage containers will pay $3 extra a month, instead of $2 for that additional service.
The new budget also includes a 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase for city employees and restores a merit pay allowance after a two-year absence.