Florence City Council approves first reading of budget that includes new fees

FLORENCE — Florence City Council has given unanimous approval to the first reading of the city’s $68 million proposed budget, which includes increases in franchise fees for cable, electricity and natural gas but not in property taxes.

The proposed budget includes $26,450,000 in the general fund.

The council met Thursday and discussed how city staff found $1.73 million to balance the budget and how Florence can cut expenses in the future amid rising fuel costs.

The city made early purchases with funds on hand to keep $800,000 of expenditures out of the budget, City Manager David Williams said. Six full-time equivalent jobs will remain open to save about $214,000 as well.

In addition, the city expects to save $186,000 attributed to turnover costs the city doesn’t pay during the time a job is unoccupied, Williams said.

The remaining $330,000 of the difference was found through projecting $100,000 in additional revenue and having department heads make cuts in operational costs, Williams said.

Councilman Ed Robinson suggested letting residents pay bills online to save on postage costs, which could reach nearly $140,000 in the coming year.

“In time, it would be a savings to everybody,” Robinson said.

Williams said the city is working to develop an online billing system.

City franchise fees, which companies pass along to customers, will rise from 3 percent of gross receipts to 5 percent of the companies’ collections.

The city projects the franchise fees will raise $3.4 million in the coming fiscal year. The additional revenue will be distributed as follows:

• Post-retirement benefits — $474,500
  
• Planning and Urban Development — $334,200
  
• Debt service on future teen center — $200,000
  
• Two new police officers — $107,500
  
• Barnes Street Recreational Facility personnel and operations — $80,000
  
• Veterans Park personnel and operations — $45,800

The city’s planning department will hire four new employees before July 1, when the city resumes control of its planning and zoning. Overall, the city plans to add 12 new positions paid through the general fund.

In the coming year, the city will pay $18.1 million in salaries, including a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for employees. The city expects its premiums for health insurance to rise 7.45 percent and for workers’ compensation to rise 7 percent.

The city also is considering changing its payment plan of debt service on the Florence Civic Center after the county recently refinanced its portion of the debt.

The debt would be paid off in 2018 instead of 2013, but the city’s $240,000 decrease in payments would be enough for it to pay its half of the replacement of the civic center’s worn-out telescopic seating, which can be pulled out or retracted depending on the event.

The civic center receives $1.26 million of the nearly $3 million hospitality fee budget, collected through a 2 percent sales tax on prepared food and beverages sold in Florence.

The budget, if passed on second reading next month, will go into effect July 1.

City council on Thursday also voted to sign a contract for a $1 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to renovate the Barnes Street and Levy Park recreational facilities.

The council also voted to approve the city’s $333,809 Community Development Block Grant budget. Those funds must go to projects that help eliminate slums and blight, benefit low-to-moderate-income people and meet urgent needs.