Maggie Valley passes budget, lowers taxes
Maggie Valley Town Board of Alderman passed the proposed 2021-22 budget on June 8.
The board accepted the balanced budget Town Manager Nathan Clark had presented, with the general fund increasing by 14.51 percent from FY 20-21 for a total of $3,068,510.
The budget contains a tax rate decrease of $.03, to 40 cents per $100 of assessed value. This is the lowest tax rate since FY 16-17 and currently the lowest municipal tax rate within Haywood County. The town’s adjusted adjusted revenue neutral rate would be $.38. Property tax is the town’s largest revenue source and is estimated to bring in $1,847,210 worth of revenue based on a 96.97 percent collection rate.
Sales tax is the next biggest source of revenue for the town’s general fund. Sales tax revenue allocated from the county is estimated at 1.79 percent or $509,724. This is up 2.5 percent from FY 20-21. Sales tax allocation is based on population distribution within the county.
Expenditures in the budget include renovations for town hall, some of which were postponed last year due to the financial uncertainty of COVID-19. These include a side door replacement for $11,424 and new security cameras for $10,000. There is $25,000 within the Board of Alderman line item to promote economic development and placemaking.
The Maggie Valley Festival Grounds is getting $8,700 worth of upgrades to the Wi-Fi network, $4,600 to design a parking lot on the old Sweet Briar Motel property, and $3,000 to continue the Holiday Movie Night at the festival grounds.
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There is $50,000 in the Parks and Recreation budget for the Veteran’s Memorial to be constructed near the town hall flagpole, which may take more than one fiscal year to complete. Parks and Recreation will also be relocating the basketball court, $10,776, at town hall to make way for the construction of a new public works storage shed costing $158,290.
The Soco Road improvement project will likely be started this year following a delay due to COVID-19. The total cost for the project is more than $2 million, though the town has only had to pay $360,000 over the course of three years.
The police department is allocating funds for two new vehicles and other equipment, $64,950 and $24,570 respectively. The budget also provides funds for the purchase of a new K-9 officer in order to ensure each patrol shift has an active K-9 on duty.
Street maintenance is increased from $46,00 to $70,324 for the Rocky Top Road resurfacing project and other unidentified private streets. The budget includes $35,100 in Powell Bill funds to repair Spring Lake Road at Twinbrook Lane, though it is likely that Powell Bill Savings fund and the general fund will also be used for repairs.
While the town is in its second year without debt to the general fund, the sewer fund still has $187,00 worth of debt to cover repairs to the wastewater treatment plant. Sewer rates will increase by 6.25 percent for residential and commercial users. The sewer fund is $1,231,086 for FY 21-22, an increase of 35.84 percent from FY 20-21.
