ROCKINGHAM — The City of Rockingham’s budget, personnel and tax rate will continue at their current levels in fiscal year 2019-2020 based on the city’s budget proposal.
On Wednesday, the city’s department heads and city council met to go over the ins and outs of the budget as proposed. The tax rate will remain at $0.48, the same it has been since the 2004-2005 fiscal year when it was lowered from $0.50. Total property values are $680,344,277. The council will vote on the budget at their monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. on June 11.
“I don’t want to sound like a broken record year in year out, but (the budget) is very similar to prior years,” said City Manager Monty Crump to open the discussion.
The “big ticket” items Crump highlighted for the council’s consideration were the purchasing of an automated water meter systems like those installed last year by the county which would cost the city $350,000 and a set of large Tiger Dams which would cost the city $155,000. Tiger Dams are collapsible dams that can be deployed to protect a particular area — such as the city’s water plant — from flood waters during a hurricane.
The $350,000 includes towers that would be installed on top of the city’s water towers which would read the meters at a given time and input the data automatically, according to Crump. The meters would be so efficient that it would increase monthly water bills to customers, but will also save money because they can shut off the water as soon as a leak is detected.
The new meters are about $180 each, compared to $60 for the current ones, and the tap fee would increase for new customers, though the installation would be done at no cost to customers, Crump said.
“It’s a great service … you think about people who are out of town and they have a line break in the house while they’re gone it can catch it and turn off the water,” said Mayor Pro Tem John Hutchinson. “Not only is it an efficient system, it’s good for the citizens.”
The council was also in favor of the Tiger Dams, which Crump cautioned could not be needed in 10 years or could be used twice next year.
Rockingham Police Chief Billy Kelly is requesting the department receive three Dodge Durangos to replace Ford Chargers next fiscal year which will cost an estimated $100,900. Kelly said the Durangos provide more space for equipment that will give officers more flexibility in the field.
RPD purchased 10 upgraded portable radios last year to replace older models and are requesting 11 more of the upgraded models. RPD is also requesting riot gear which they currently have none of, bullet proof vests, new tasers, and a new child fingerprint scanner to replace the roughly 50 year old one which no longer works.
Kelly said parents love the fingerprint scanner because it allows them to get their child’s picture with their fingerprint. The tasers will allow officers to reduce the time between shocks to a suspect.
Fire Chief Harold Isler said he would have liked to get a new truck this year to replace an aging tanker, but the building and bidding process for the truck will take about seven or eight months, so it will wait until the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Isler said the Rockingham Fire Department will draw up specifications by September and the project will go out to bid by January 2020.
Both Kelly and Isler said they have been satisfied with the new Emergency Services Complex. They said the only issue has been with teaching the dispatchers to learn the terminology for different agencies, but that there have been no major issues in terms of response times or confusions.
