Fremont board delays vote on 2010-11 budget
By Laura Collins
Published in News on June 16, 2010 1:46 PM
The Fremont Board of Aldermen decided to wait until Tuesday to vote on the 2010-11 budget, which goes into effect July 1.
A few town residents spoke at Tuesday's meeting about the $3.48 million budget, which calls for a 5 percent increase in the water rate and a 10 percent increase in sewer.
Brenda Hicks suggested board members go item by item before they approved the budget, and questioned the need for so many police cars. Another member of the audience, Gene Fields, who lives in Pikeville but owns a furniture store in Fremont, said many people cannot afford an extra $5 or $10 a month.
"We have took everything into consideration," said board member Harold Cuddington. "We understand people are going without. But we got bills to pay. We're going up the least we can to get by."
Board member Leroy Ruffin suggested meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday about the budget rather than voting last night.
"Every dime we can find, we'll take it out. What we're going to do is try to keep Fremont existing for the next 12 months," Ruffin said.
Board member W.T. Smith, who owns Capitol Cafe in Fremont, invited any community member with suggestion on how to cut costs to call him or stop by the restaurant and meet with him before Tuesday.
The proposed budget calls for a 5 percent increase in the water rate and a 10 percent increase in the sewer rate. The budget also allows the board to adjust the rates at any point throughout the year if the town begins to fall behind.
The 10 percent increase in sewer rates accounts for a 5 percent increase the city of Goldsboro placed on the town in July 2009 and then the proposed 5 percent increase the city is planning for this July. The 5 percent increase in the water rate is much lower than what the proposed budget originally called for.
The budget first presented to the board last month called for a 17 percent increase in the water rate and an 11 percent increase in sewer fees.