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City jobs, tax rate safe in Marion

By Mike Conley | The McDowell News

Published: June 17, 2009

At the Tuesday meeting, the Marion City Council adopted a $9.5 million budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 that does not call for a hike in the property tax rate. However, council voted to increase the water and sewer rates.
The adopted budget for 2009-2010 doesn't call for any layoffs of city workers. However, it does eliminate six positions.
"Hopefully, all those will be cut through vacancies," said City Manager Bob Boyette. "No one has lost their job, and it's our full intention not to send anyone home."
The 2009-2010 budget of $9,507,219 is $1,044,256 less than the existing budget for 2008-2009, a drop of 9.9 percent. Boyette said previously that much of a drop in one year is "unprecedented" for the city's budget.
Marion's property tax rate will stay at 51 cents per $100 valuation. This is the 42nd consecutive year that the city hasn't raised taxes.
But the rates for water and sewer service will continue to go up. They will increase by 6 percent with the new budget. It is the fourth in a five-year series of annual water and sewer rate hikes. City officials said they have to raise the rates to make the water and sewer systems more self-sustaining. It also offsets the loss of industries that used a lot of water and sewer.
Like the county's workers, city employees will not get a salary increase. Councilman Lloyd Cuthbertson said he wishes the city was in a position to give its workers a pay raise.
The budget for 2009-2010 was adopted after the council held a public hearing, as required by state law. No one from the public commented to council about the new budget.
In other business, the City Council held eight public hearings about zoning matters. The first dealt with a brick house that is located on the five lane next to Byrd's Auto Sales. Owner Melba Roberts asked the city to change the zoning for the property from R-2 General Residential to C-2 General Business.
The rest of the public hearings were about assigning a zoning to areas recently annexed into Marion. When the hearings were complete, city officials had assigned R-2 General Residential zoning to areas in the Eastfield community and properties in the Virginia Road area. City officials gave the C-2 General Business zoning to the Hampton Inn property on U.S. 221 South. The zoning of R-1 Single-Family Residential was assigned to properties in the Yancey Road area. City officials assigned R-2 General Residential and C-2 General Business zonings to property in the U.S. 221 North/Hankins Road annexation.
In addition, Freddie Killough, director of the Marion Business Association, presented a certificate to the City Council that she received from the N.C. Rural Center. The certificate states that Marion has completed the Rural Center's Small Town Economic Prosperity (N.C. STEP) program, which provided grant money and opportunities for Marion to improve its downtown and economy.
"We graduated this past May," said Killough as she gave the certificate to council.
In other business, council agreed to purchase some land at Sugar Hill Road and Meadow Drive from the N.C. Department of Transportation for $5,900. The land will be used for the location of a sewer pump station that would serve the Sugar Hill Road area and the planned shopping center, which will have a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Council also approved the interlocal agreement with McDowell County about the distribution of sales tax revenue.