Calhoun Council approves $15M budget

DBell@CalhounTimes.com

Members of the Calhoun City Council approved the fiscal year 2021 budget of $15,06,389 on Monday evening.

City Administrator Paul Worley previously described the proposal as a “very conservative budget on both revenues and expenses.” The economic shutdown that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic has made the process uniquely challenging for city officials, he said.

The budget does not require a change in the city’s millage rate of 2.6, but the city does expect a revenue increase of nearly $300,000, or about 15.6%, from property taxes thanks to an increased tax digest value.

Worley noted that the pandemic and economic shutdown had already resulted in lower-than-expected revenues from decreased utility usage, Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax collections, hotel/ motel taxes and excise taxes. He said the March numbers were not as low as expected, but that the numbers for April would better help officials predict what could happen in the coming months.

“We were able to cut out $700,000 of projected revenue and still present a balanced budget, so we’re really happy about that,” Worley said previously.

On the expenditure side, the city’s proposal includes

BUDGET,

The the work will be performed by licensed contractors at no cost to the homeowner, but the homeowner does have to agree to not sell the home or move within five years.

New Foundations Development Inc. is a nonprofit

created by the Calhoun Housing Authority that has been serving veterans and families with home rehabilitation since 2013. New Foundations has completed nearly 250 home rehabilitations for low income families consisting of mostly veterans of the armed services.

For more information, call Hatch at 706-629-9183, extension 14.