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CARY, NC – It will take about $217 million next year to keep Cary one of the greatest places in America to live, work, and raise a family, according to the Fiscal Year 2010 recommended budget presented by Town Manager Ben Shivar.  The total budget is 25 percent lower than its FY 2009 predecessor, which was adopted last June to fund the current year’s initiatives.  Proposed cuts and delays will keep Cary ’s tax rate one of the lowest in the Triangle at 33 cents per $100 of valuation and hold garbage, recycling, and yard waste fees to a total of $14 per month for residents.

 

“My recommended budget takes an extremely conservative approach to new spending while ensuring that Cary citizens can continue to enjoy the high quality programs and services our organization provides,” said Town Manager Ben Shivar.  “Despite the impacts of the severe economic downturn, I believe we’ve found effective ways to adjust operations and delay projects in a manner that minimizes impacts to the community we serve.”

 

The Town of Cary ’s annual budget is divided into two primary parts:  a capital budget, which funds bricks and mortar projects like roads, buildings, and utility lines; and an operating budget, which funds the equipment, supplies, vehicles, and people needed to run programs and facilities.

 

Shivar’s proposed FY 10 capital portion of the budget totals $50.2 million, a 60 percent decrease from the current year’s adopted capital budget.  Some of the projects he is recommending move forward include automated meter reading (Aquastar), open space acquisition, an elevated water storage tank, and the annual town-wide street improvement program.

 

Shivar’s recommended FY 10 operating portion of the budget totals $166.7 million.  The modest 2.2 percent increase from the current year’s adopted operating budget is due in large measure to vehicle replacements, about half of which were delayed this year to help trim expenses.

 

While one of the typical drivers of operating cost increases is new positions, this is not the case in Shivar’s proposed budget, which includes only one new staff position -- a water resources engineer to help with regulations to ensure that Cary’s long term water and wastewater needs are met in a timely manner.  Over the last several years, Cary has had to add an average of 27 new positions each year just to keep pace with the growing community’s needs.  And in addition to not adding positions, Shivar is holding more than two dozen vacant positions open across a wide variety of departments frozen now and for the coming year.

 

“Keeping a still-growing community in the same place next year that it was in in previous years with as many as two to four percent fewer staff and large cuts in contracted services puts a particularly heavy burden on the remaining staff, and I appreciate the tremendous effort they’re putting forth to keep our community strong,” said Shivar.

 

Not in his proposed budget but identified as a critical need is the creation of a new police beat in the western Cary .  Shivar noted that he is looking to a federal grant to help fund the additional eight police officers. 

 

“These additional police resources are important, and if we don’t receive the federal support we’ve applied for, I plan to ask the Council to consider other funding options this fall,” Shivar added. 

 

Not counting the possibility of the new police officers, the one new recommended engineer position brings the Town’s total to 1,153.875 full-time equivalents, or about 8.5 staff members for each 1,000 Cary residents -- one of the lowest staff-to-citizen ratios in the state for a large municipality.

 

Even with the freeze, cuts, delays, increased efficiencies and more belt-tightening, Cary water and sewer customers are facing a 7.9 percent rate increase—about $5.55 more a month for a residential Cary customer using 7,000 gallons of water.  In addition to the forecasted rate impacts of the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facilities, decreased revenues from a slower rate of new development, fewer than expected new customers, and lower demand are contributing to the need for higher rates.

 

“Unfortunately and unlike much of what we do at Town Hall, most of the costs to run a water and sewer utility are large, long-term fixed costs that can’t be flexed from one year to the next,” said Shivar. 

 

The Cary Council’s next budget work session is slated for May 26, 2009 .  Discussions are expected to include options for delaying or phasing the downtown Streetscape project, the planned renovation of Old Cary Elementary, and a request to purchase the Triangle Aquatics Center .  Another work session is on the calendar for June 9 if needed.  Work sessions are open to the public, begin at 5:30 p.m. , and are held at Cary Town Hall . 

 

In addition to attending work sessions, interested citizens are invited to comment on the proposed budget during two upcoming regular Council meetings:  Thursday, May 28 and Wednesday, June 10.  Meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held in the Council Chambers at Cary Town Hall , 316 North Academy St .

 

Any changes to Shivar’s recommended budget will be listed separately and voted on in conjunction with approval of the entire budget at the regular Council meeting on June 25.  North Carolina law requires local governments to adopt a balanced budget by June 30 since the new fiscal year starts July 1.

 

The complete Town of Cary proposed budget is available at www.townofcary.org.  Printed copies of the budget are also available for review at the Town Clerk’s Office in Town Hall, at the Cary public library on South Academy Street , and at the West Regional Library, 4000 Louis Stephens Drive .

 

The Town of Cary ’s annual budget is a work and financial plan designed to implement the Town Council’s vision for the community as articulated in the organization’s mission statement and goals and initiatives.

 

 

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PRIMARY CONTACTS:

Ben Shivar, Town Manager, (919) 469-4003 Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, (919) 460-4951