By Jeanie Groh

jeanie.groh@salisburypost.com

Landis’ town staff and Board of Aldermen have their work cut out for them in order to be able to balance their budget for this coming year.

Town Manager Reed Linn said he expects Landis to bring in $1,159,810 in tax revenue of the town’s current tax rate of $.48.

The town’s light, water, sewer and storm water are all balanced for the 2015-16 year, but the general fund is $120,505 short.

The police department requested an additional $102,904 for three patrol cars, salary adjustments and computer upgrades.

The fire department requested replacement turn out gear, replacement fire hoses and additional staffing. Due to some maintenance savings within the department, the fire department only requested $1,676 more than last year.

Parks and Recreation asked for an additional $31,570 to pay on its PARTF grant, begin work at the Lake Corriher Wilderness area, repair the depot roof and repair the pool.

The street department requested a front mount snowplow, a new trash truck, sidewalks and resurfacing for certain streets. Because the town’s recycling fees were moved to the sanitation department, the street department’s request was $42,157 less than last year.

The sanitation department had a $48,000 increase due to the addition of recycling to the department this year.

The administration department requested an increase of $28,488, to install a new telecommunications system, which includes the replacement computers and server at City Hall. There were also increases in professional fees and mayor and aldermen expenses.

“It’s got to be a balanced budget and taxes aren’t going to go up,” said Alderman Tony Hilton. “Where are we going to cut?”

Ginger Gibson, Landis’ finance officer, told the board she and Linn wanted to show the board exactly where the department requests would put the budget.

“You have to answer to the citizens,” she said, adding that she wanted them to know exactly what was cut and why they cut it.

The board spent the majority of the meeting discussing ways to cut the general fund to balance the budget.

The board decided to cut $20,000 from the recreation budget, cut $5,000 from the $15,000 request for new turnout gear and $20,000 from the street fund. Town staff must find a way to cut at least $80,000 more from the town budget, however, to balance the budget.

The Board of Aldermen will meet again May 27 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss a final, balanced version of the budget.

Both the commercial and residential deposit fee for power and water will go up for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The commercial deposit will increase from $275 to $350, and the residential deposit will go from $135 to $200. The deposit is refunded when the customer eliminates their service.

Electric, water, wastewater, storm water and garbage fees will remain the same.