Urbanna Town Council OKs $1.1 million budget

Urbanna Councilor Chowning casts lone no vote; had earlier stated new tax rate equates to real estate tax increase

by Tom Chillemi –

In a split vote, the Urbanna Town Council last week adopted a $1.1 million budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 (FY 22-23).

The budget is just more than $1.1 million, an increase of about $208,000 from the 2021-2022 budget that totals $889,000.

The new budget is divided roughly with one third for the water fund and two-thirds for the general fund. The water fund is set at $320,000 and those funds are strictly for water-related items.

Councilor Larry Chowning cast the June 23 meeting’s lone vote against the budget.

Chowning has argued previously that although the new real estate tax rate is a two-cent reduction to 21 cents per $100 of value, the rate would result in a town revenue increase of about $27,000, and equates to a tax increase for real estate owners.

Voting in favor of the budget were councilors Bill Smith, Steve Hollberg, Merri Hanson, Bill Goldsmith, Marjorie Austin and Mayor Barbara Hartley.

Division

Before the vote, Councilor Goldsmith, who serves as chairman of the finance committee, explained that the new budget that goes into effect July 1, 2022, includes a 5.9% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for staff. “In the face of 9% inflation, we felt that was important to do at the last minute.” He added that in 2018 or 2019, council voted to link the COLA for town staff to the amount that Social Security increases payments.

With the motion to adopt the budget on the table, Chowning commented, “I just hope that next year we will have some budget work sessions where everybody on council is involved in the budget, not just a few people. We may need to go into closed sessions on salaries. We have had no closed sessions in regards to salaries or employees for months. We need to be looking at all the stuff because we are not going to be able to give these kind of raises every year.”

Hartley replied, “That’s a valid statement.”