City’s finances on target for fiscal year

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Salisbury City Council heard a positive financial update during its meeting Tuesday night.

Council heard a report on the city’s financials for the second quarter of the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

If projections hold, the city could end up collecting $90,000 more than budgeted in property tax revenue, according to Financial Services Manager Teresa Harris.

She also said sales-tax receipts for July through September were all above what was budgeted. The amount collected for September was slightly less than $500,000. The city’s mid-year sales-tax revenues have increased each year since 2011, according to figures presented by Harris.

So far this year, the city’s General Fund has received 53 percent, $19.3 million, of its budgeted revenues and has spent 43 percent, $15.7 million, of budgeted expenditures — which is on target, according to Harris.

The city’s General Fund has a total budget of $36.7 million for the year.

During the meeting, council members and city officials who attended a municipal broadband conference in Kansas City, Missouri, last week spoke about what they learned.

Councilwoman Maggie Blackwell said the message she got from the conference was: having a broadband system attracts talented workers, and jobs follow talent.

“That’s the one that really struck home with me,” she said.

Council woman Karen Alexander said she learned that the city needs to mitigate the digital divide between the wealthy communities in the city and the poor ones.

Kent Winrich, Fibrant’s new director, said he was amazed how far ahead of other cities Salisbury is.

He said he heard a lot of officials from small and large cities talk about how they want a fiber-optic network but don’t know where to start.

“All these cities are wanting what we’ve got and we’ve had,” he said.

In other business, council:

• heard year-in-review presentations from city boards and commissions. The Tourism and Cultural Development Commission reported that last year hotel revenues increased 10 percent from the previous fiscal year and that the growth rate for hotel revenue in the city is the 8th fastest in the state.

• set Feb. 3 as the date for a public hearing regarding a request for a pool-hall permit from the owner of The Carriage Room, a bar off Statesville Boulveard. The permit would allow the bar to use its two pool tables in a for-profit capacity.

• authorized an agreement between the city and the North Carolina Department of Transportation regarding new sidewalks on the south side of Jake Alexander Boulevard between Klumac Road and the road leading to Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

In September, council approved the construction, which was paid for by the Department of Transportation. Now that the 1,500 feet of sidewalk is finished, the city will be responsible for maintaining it, according to the agreement.

• went into a closed session for over two hours to consult with the city’s attorney and discuss a personnel issue.