McCaysville City Clerk Nancy Godfrey began a city council work session to discuss the city budget Wednesday, July 28 by saying, “I just need to get some good clear numbers tonight so that we can proceed with advertisements and public hearings. We are already in a new budget year.”
Unfortunately, that is not what happened, and no final decisions were made regarding budgetary issues or possible wage increases for city employees.
Water Superintendent Davy Ensley told the council that water and sewer rates will most likely need to increase because expenditures are more than revenues.
The problem is due to the flow meters. Ensley said, “The meters read a flow and level, so if (lines) back up, you have the same amount of flow, so it backs up, the levels go up, the meter thinks it's reading more.”
Sewer revenues collected each month are between $22,000 and $24,000 while expenditures range between $45,000 to $60,000 a month.
When it came to making a final decision regarding city employees possibly getting a 3% raise, the mayor and council
members mostly agreed that all departments, administration, street, and water, should get a raise, but disagreement arose when it came to the police department.
Councilmember Susan Kiker said, “Back in March when we decided to give the full-time officers take-home vehicles, it was decided that instead of getting a raise, they would get the vehicles.”
Councilmember Jason Woody said, “I think that we just need to do it by department.”
No final decision was made in the end about pay raises, and no date was set for any public hearings regarding budgetary issues.