Gordonsville budget hearing Monday

By Jeff Poole
Review Managing Editor
Published: May 15, 2008

By Jeff Poole
Review Managing Editor

Gordonsville residents can take comfort that the town’s budget—like their own perhaps—is going down.
Monday, the Gordonsville Town Council will conduct a public hearing on the proposed 2008-09 budget.
The biggest changes are in the fact that revenues and spending are down but some water and sewer rates could rise. Town taxes are holding steady.
“We’ve really worked hard to keep the budget down,” Gordonsville Town Manager Sabrina Martyn said. “We really tried to hold the line on a lot of things.”
The proposed budget suggests the town will generate $2,448,305 in revenue, including taxes, grants and water and sewer payments. That figure is down $335,524 from last year’s figure ($2,783,829)—particularly because the town made fewer new water connections than it expected.
Correspondingly, town expenditures are down in relation.
While the town expects to collect slightly more revenue through taxes, it anticipates a drop in water revenue (because of fewer users than anticipated a year ago), accounting for most of the difference.
In expenses, the proposed budget shows slight increases in town administration and police, while public works expenses appear to hold steady.
The biggest change is a drop in the enterprise fund from $425,738 to $15,000. Martyn said that is a reduction in anticipated water connections related to the sagging housing market.
While the town is holding real estate, personal property, meals, machinery and tools and various other town taxes at their current levels, it is proposing a slight change to water and sewer rates.
The town proposes no rate change for residential/commercial water customers for the first 1,000 gallons. However, it proposed a rate change beyond 1,000 gallons from $4.15 to $4.20 for in-town residents and from $5.21 to $6.30 per 1,000 gallons for out-of-town residents.
Similarly, industrial water customers face no change for the first 1,000 gallons used, but a proposed increase from $3.67 to $4.20 for in-town industries and from $4.60 to $5.25 for out-of-town industries for every 1,000 gallons after the first 1,000.
Martyn said the changes are a result of the town’s efforts to create consistency among billing rates for water customers. Under the proposed rates, out-of-town residential and commercial users will pay 1.5 times more than in-town residents. For industries, the proposed rate is 1.25 times more.
The town also proposes to reduce the unit for the sewer base rate from 2,000 gallons to 1,000 gallons.
Martyn said households that create more than 1,000 gallons of sewerage a month will see a $6.83 increase on their monthly sewer bill.
The entire budget is available for review at the town hall at 112 South Main Street during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.) The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. in town hall, Monday, May 19.