The Town of Belhaven’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2015 to 2016 includes a possible 7-cent increase on the property tax rate but does not include expected revenues and expenditures related to the fight to reopen the hospital.
If approved, the 7-cent jump will mean an increase of more than 14 percent for taxpayers, and it is coupled with a 15 percent increase in garbage collection fees — the first increase in garbage fees since 2006.
According to the town’s proposed budget worksheet, the increased property taxes would generate an additional $87,000.
Mayor Adam O’Neal said the proposed increases would help to offset the town’s budget deficits resulting from Vidant Pungo Hospital’s closing and the following attempts to open another facility.
Vidant Pungo Hospital closed July 1, 2014, citing company losses of $2.5 million each year, but planned to open a 24-hour multispecialty clinic to serve the community.  Belhaven officials opposed the hospital’s closing and the opening of the clinic, saying it would hurt the town economically and reduce the quality of medical care.
Town officials have since sought to reclaim the property and reopen the hospital.
O’Neal, who led two 273-mile walks to the nation’s capital over the past year to rally support, said he blames Vidant Health for the town’s misfortunes and the budget complications it continues to have.
“The town has had to be a fighter and a leader,” he said. “We are dealing with the aftermath.”
The expected revenues and expenditures related to attempts to reopen the hospital were not included in the proposed budget because the council doesn’t know what they will be, O’Neal said.
But he said the lawyer fees stemming from the fight against Vidant are “under control,” and the town will handle future expenses as they come.
According to the proposed budget, all expenses regarding the hospital, which are not covered by other sources of revenue, would be taken from fund balance.
O’Neal said the increase in garbage collection fees would help to offset the costs of water and sewer, both of which have operated on a deficit for the past few years.
“We have to do something about the deficit of funds,” he said.
The council will vote on the budget Monday night at 7 at the Belhaven Civic Center.