News

Mills River yields on higher sheriff payment

By Bill Moss, Published: June 12, 2015

MILLS RIVER — Conceding they had no choice if they wanted to maintain law enforcement coverage, Mills River Town Council members adopted a new budget Thursday that increases the town's payment for a dedicated sheriff’s deputy by more than 50 percent.

The council voted unanimously to adopt a $1.77 million 2015-16 budget that raises the fire tax by 1½ cents — to 9 cents — and keeps the town’s tax rate at 1.124 cents per $100 valuation. It also raises the cost of the sheriff’s deputy to $109,137, $38,004 more than the town paid in the current year. Although board members expressed frustration over the price increase last month, they did not talk specifically about the sheriff’s contract during brief remarks before voting for the budget.
The sheriff raised the price of providing a fulltime deputy after the county Board of Commissioners ordered an analysis of the cost. County salary, benefits, equipment and other items put the actual cost at $62 an hour, the county administrators said.
The town expects to receive $990,000 in property tax revenue, $290,000 in state-shared revenue and $250,000 in electric power taxes.
The budget also:

• Allocates $848,000 to Mills Fire & Rescue, up $251,000 from the current year’s total of $597,000.
• Increases the annual debt payment on the town hall and library loan to $63,100, from $54,000, and switches to monthly instead of annual payments, saving the town “hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan,” Town Manager Jeff Wells wrote in his budget message. The town expects to pay off the loan, which had a term originally of 40 years, in 15 years.
• Pays for a 1.7 percent cost of living increase for town employees.
• Adds three new street lights on N.C. 191 at the town hall and park entrance.
• Allocates $14,000 for economic development agencies — $14,000 to the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development and $8,000 to Agribusiness Henderson County.