SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council adopted the city budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 at their meeting Tuesday night.

The adopted budget of $108,695,411 includes a balanced general fund budget of $54,665,939. The balanced budget includes a property tax of $0.616 per $100 of valuation that is 3.6 cents above the revenue-neutral tax rate following Rowan County’s revaluation. An additional $0.6 cents was added to the recommended $0.61 tax rate presented last month to provide city employees with a three percent cost of living adjustment instead of the two percent adjustment originally proposed. The one percent longevity bonus is still included in the budget. The net increase of revenue from real estate property taxes is roughly $1.4 million above revenue neutral compared to last year.

The council approved using $325,000 from the fund balance for windows in the city office building at 132 North Main Street. City staff will return to council mid-year to review other projects not included in the budget.

Additional items adopted in the budget include:

• $75,000 for crime reduction initiatives
• $100,000 for in-park cameras
• Debt service for the construction of a new fire station
• Stormwater and water/sewer projects
• $353,000 for street lighting and traffic safety improvements
• $200,000 for neighborhood revitalization
• $30,000 for small business entrepreneur development

Salisbury-Rowan Utilities (SRU) has been impacted by significant cost increases as well as staffing shortages. The projected growth of the customer base will help absorb these cost increases and SRU’s fund balance remains strong to cover emergencies and match grants for system improvements. There was no increase in the water and sewer rates as a result of growth in revenues and strong reserves.

The transit fund’s budget for FY24 is $3,108,936. The majority of funding for transit is provided through federal and state grants, but the budget includes a general fund transfer of $630,000 and an appropriation of $88,831 in transit fund balance.

The Stormwater fund budget for FY24 is $2,337,601. Stormwater fees make up $2,287,601 of the total revenues for this fund. The two major projects targeted in this budget for FY2024 and funded through Stormwater’s 15-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) are:

• The Jackson Street watershed drainage improvement construction at a projected cost of $916,000
• The North Long Street watershed drainage improvement construction at a projected cost of $2,281,000

The Stormwater CIP calculated the estimated fee levels necessary to fund the full plan endorsed by council. The new rate of $4.81 per equivalent residential unit reflects an increase of 40 cents per month to support plan implementation.

The approved budget will be available on the city website beginning Friday, June 30, at salisburync.gov/budget.