News

Mills River raises taxes to cover sheriff's contract

By Lightning Reports, Published: June 24, 2016

On Thursday night, the Mills River Town Council approved the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget.

The proposed budget is $2,469,980. The property tax will be 18 cents per $100 dollar valuation, a 6.76 cent increase from the current fiscal year. Nine cents will be devoted to town operations, and nine cents will be devoted to Mills River Fire and Rescue.

Law enforcement changes account for a large portion of the tax increase. In the 2015-2016 fiscal year, $109,137 was spent on police. By contrast, the new budget allots $387,753 for contracted law enforcement services with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Planning and Zoning spending will also be significantly increased, in part to account for a current staff position upgrade from part-time to full-time. The 2015-2016 budget for Planning and Zoning was $29,375, while the 2016-2017 budget is $65,800.

Councilman Shanon Gonce was skeptical about whether or not Mills River, with its comparatively small area, needed the additional officers. He noted that the numbers were disproportionate to the amount of officers in the rest of the county. “Mills River ain’t no rougher territory than the rest of the county,” he said.

He also expressed some concerns about whether the five new deputies would be visible and entirely devoted to Mills River. “If we’re gonna pay for them, we need them here, because it’s not my money I’m dealing with, I’m dealing with everybody in Mills River’s money.”

The budget will go into effect beginning July 1st.