Mayodan raises tax rate

The $5.2 million budget passed Monday evening by Mayodan Town Council utilizes a 5-cent increase in the property tax rate to balance expenses and revenues for 2008-09.
The change raises the rate from 53 cents to 58 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, or an additional $50 annually for the owner of a property valued at $100,000.
“This is only the second increase in the tax rate for the Town of Mayodan since 1972,” said Town Manager Debra Cardwell.
Records show the town reached its highest tax rate of $1 per $100 in 1972 and lowered that rate steadily to 50 cents by 1987. The rate remained there until 2004, when it was raised to 53 cents.
Property tax base losses suffered from the closings of textile plants forced the tax increase in 2004, and recent gains have not fully compensated for those losses.
“While we’ve experienced an increase in real property tax base as a result of annexations and growth at U.S. 220 and N.C. 135, our personal property tax base has decreased from $45,890,000 in 2002 to $19,300,000 in 2008,” said Cardwell.
Cardwell said the town lost $5.7 million in personal property value in the past year.
“We’ve made gains in real property tax base, but the losses we’ve had due to removal of machinery and equipment from former Unifi plants have been substantial,” she said.
Board members unanimously passed the proposed budget package Monday after receiving no opposition during a brief public hearing.
Mayodan taxpayer Jason Barker told council members he understood tax hikes but offered another way to increase town revenues. Barker proposed collecting scrap metal from around the town and selling it to supplement the town’s economy.
“People throw out metal all the time,” Barker said. “You can take a truck load of it to D.H. Griffin and they’ll pay you for it.”
Barker said community beautification could be a by-product of the new revenue source.
“Then you don’t have washers and dryers sitting behind people’s houses that have been broken and been there for years,” he said.
Barker said Eden and Reidsville had already implemented a program of collecting and selling scrap metal collected in the towns.
“They take a truck load and sell it, and the revenue comes back to the town,” he said. “It’s like free money, except for the fuel expense.”
Mayor Dwight Lake reminded Barker that staff expense also had to be considered.
“Our town staff is stretched pretty thin already,” Lake said.
Councilwoman Lisa Shumake said she agreed the idea should be considered but was not sure something so inconsistent could be accurately figured into a budget plan.
“There’s going to be tax increases the rest of our lives, but we need to start finding other ways of taking in revenues,” Barker said.
Council members agreed that the idea had merit, and Cardwell said she would check into it and report back to the board at the July meeting.
“As money gets tighter, we have to be more creative and that’s all you’re suggesting,” Cardwell told Barker.
The new budget does not propose increases in water or sewer rates and maintains the current minimum charges for all active customers. The town’s last water and sewer rate increase came in April 2007, just prior to approval of the current budget.
The 2008-09 general fund budget proposes a 2 percent adjustment to salary ranges for all town employee positions. Cardwell said it would be the first overall adjustment to salary ranges since the town implemented its new pay scale plan in 2001. While proposing employees not at the midpoint of their salary range continue their progression, the new budget calls for a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for employees already beyond their midpoint.

The new general fund budget figure of $2,303,125 represents a 2 percent increase over the current budget. A $28,234 increase over last year’s $1.52 million water and sewer budget represents about the same 2 percent jump.
The significant reduction in the overall budget package comes from the capital-improvements budget. Proposed capital improvements for 2008-09 are slightly more than $1.4 million, nearly half of the current budget’s $2.6 million figure.
Two capital projects remain on next year’s budget that total $1 million – a sewer outfall replacement and water plant improvements, but both are fully funded by grants.
In other business Monday evening, council members passed a resolution commending the City of Reidsville for its recent selection as an All-America City.
The board also approved a local government agreement between the county’s municipalities and Rockingham Community College for the improvement and operation of the education access channel on the local cable network. In return for funding from the towns, RCC will distribute 25 percent of revenues received back to the cooperating municipalities.

News Editor Steve Lawson can be reached at or at 548-6047.