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Newport City Council studying proposed new budget
The Newport City Council met in special session Monday evening and released it's interest in property in Parrottsville to the benefit of Elisa A. Brown and Susan M. Brown-Sechrest. A Newport Utilities water tank at one time was located on the 50 X 50 foot parcel. The land is no longer being used by the utility which also has rescinded it's interest in the parcel. The Council also met in a workshop to review a proposed 2016/2017 budget drawn up by City Administrator James Finchum and Finance Director Tina Matthews. Last year a .99 cent property tax increase was implemented, the first tax increase in the city in fourteen years. The move allowed the city to eliminate the need for a tax anticipation note. Such a note was borrowed money used to operate the city till property tax revenues started coming in at year's end, and then the note was paid off. Eliminating the note, for the first time in 20 years, means the city now will be able to build up cash reserves. Finchum said the annual $600,000 tax anticipation note was an annual drag on city finances. "We planned to phase the note out over several years but due to the property tax increase, good sales tax collections and the sale of delinquent properties, we will not need a tax anticipation note this year." Finchum talked about major aspects of the proposed budget. He said the budget proposal is the result of five meetings with each department head. "It's a fairly tedious process we go through, before we submit it the the city council," he told the NewsSource. Highlights of the proposed new budget include; $300,000 for a new roof on city hall to replace the leaking roof. The purchase of one or two new fire engines at a cost of $340,000 each, a new maintenance shed is needed at the city park and new trucks in the Street Department, including snow removal equipment. The council is to vote on first reading of the budget at it's May meeting and then hold a public hearing and ratify it in June, before the end of the fiscal year.
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