City Council opens public hearing on budget proposal

Anyone wishing to sound off about Washington’s upcoming 2011-2012 fiscal year budget may do so at Washington’s Municipal Building on Monday.

During its meeting, the City Council will conduct a public hearing on the city’s proposed $61.6 million budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

The proposed budget calls for a 5-percent decrease in in-town residential electric rates. It keeps the property tax rate and water, stormwater, wastewater and trash collection fees at existing levels.

The proposed budget for the city’s general fund, which pays for day-to-day operations, comes in at $14,188,322, a decrease of $1,530,321, or 9.735 percent, below the current budget.

The proposed budget recommends the annual transfer from the electric fund to the general fund remain at $973,150 (the transfer amount in the current budget) to cover service-level costs that affect the city daily as the county seat of Beaufort County.

Mayor Archie Jennings and the current council, after being elected in 2009, said they planned to reduce the amount of money transferred annually from the city’s electric fund to the city’s general fund.

In previous fiscal years, the annual transfer from the electric fund to the general fund was a little more than $1 million. The electric fund transfer in this year’s budget amounted to around $973,000, about $200,000 less than transfers from the fund in the previous fiscal year.

In other business, the council is expected to take up an item it set aside at its May 2 meeting.

Coming back to the council is a request to adopt a resolution supporting and recommending the nomination of the proposed North Market Street Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places.

At its May 2 meeting, the council tabled the matter, saying it wanted to wait to act on the request until after the city’s Historic Preservation Commission conducted a public hearing on the proposal. After conducting the hearing, the commission recommended the city submit the nomination.

“The National Register is the nation’s official list of historic buildings, districts, archeological sites, and other resources worthy of preservation,” reads a memorandum from John Rodman, the city’s director of planning and development, to the council and mayor. “Listing a property on the National Register places no obligation of restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter their property. Owners of private property nominated to the NR have an opportunity to concur or object to the listing.”

In 2008-2009, Washington sponsored a comprehensive survey of historic structures throughout the city, except for the existing downtown historic district. The nomination application is a result of that study.

The study was partly funded by the State Historic Preservation Office.

Many structures identified in the survey are located along a section of the North Market Street corridor north of Sixth Street, with that corridor stretching up to several blocks on either side of North Market Street.

Inclusion of structures in the target area on the list could be a precursor to establishing a second historic district in the city. Property owners in historic districts usually face some restrictions on uses of their properties, Rodman said.

For another historic district to be created in the city, such action would have to take place at the local level, starting with the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, Rodman said in 2009.

The City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. The agenda for the council’s meeting may be viewed by visiting the city’s website: www.ci.washington.nc.us.