News

Laurel Park to get smoother ride

By Bill Moss, Published: June 4, 2016

LAUREL PARK — Getting around in Laurel Park — whether by foot, bike or car — should get more pleasant in the upcoming budget year.

Among the expenditures in the town’s proposed 2016-17 budget are a new walking trail from Laurel Green to Rhododendron Lake Nature Park and repaving of Laurel Park Highway from White Pine Drive to Crystal Springs Drive.
Laurel Park residents would see no tax increase and a slight increase in water rates under the $2.6 million spending plan the Town Council is expected to adopt on June 21.
Passing on an increase from the city of Hendersonville, Laurel Park will raise the water rate by 25 cents per 1,000 gallons, a bump that should amount less than $1 a month for most households. The fixed charge that all users pay stays at $19 a month.
The tax rate remains level at 43 cents per $100 valuation, including a 9.5-cent levy for fire protection by Valley Hill Fire & Rescue. Town Manager Alison Melnikova projects that property tax collection will remain flat, generating $1,585,100. The biggest revenue increases were in sales tax, up by $26,000, or 5 percent, and ABC revenue, up $7,600, or 61 percent.
The town is using $49,000 worth of savings to balance the budget, leaving a fund balance of $1.1 million. It’s using $34,000 worth of fund balance to supplement a more ambitious road repair and repaving effort the Town Board committed to last year when it raised taxes by 3 cents per $100 valuation.
Other roadwork includes repairs or repaving of parts of Orchard Circle, Arrowroot Place, Fairway Drive, Laurel Park Place and several intersections in Timber Creek. The town is budgeting another $55,000 worth of stormwater work, primarily in floodprone areas of Timber Creek.
Although the town has budgeted no money to cover it, Melnikova warned the town council that Henderson County could enact a “flow control” ordinance requiring garbage haulers who operate here to use the county landfill. Currently, Laurel Park garbage goes to the Buncombe County landfill, where the tipping fee, at $47 a ton, is $13 less than Henderson County’s $60 rate. A full year under such an ordinance would cost Laurel Park an extra $8,600, she said.
The town’s police budget, at $533,000, is down slightly from the current year. The town plans to buy a Ford Explorer police vehicle for $35,000 and a utility truck and backhoe for the street department for $134,000.