Ashville to break even

Published 7:14 am Thursday, September 23, 2010

The city of Ashville is finally seeing the light at the end of a three-year financial tunnel, according to a financial report presented earlier this week.

“We’re really close to the break even point this fiscal year,” Mayor Robert McKay said. “We can survive. We’ve just got to watch the money really closely.”

During the most recent fiscal year, McKay said the city of Ashville has been running a tight ship, with things like overtime, vacation buy-back and convention trips cut out of the budget.

However, the city’s employees will be reaping the benefits of the city’s frugality in the upcoming year.

“Insurance premiums are going up 3.2 percent, but the city has decided to absorb that and not pass [the increase] on to the employees,” McKay said. “We’re not, at this point, going to be cutting any longevity pay that they’ve been accustomed to getting, which we’ve thought about.”

While raises are still out of the question, McKay hopes to maintain current staffing levels despite a still-struggling economy.

“The money is still not flowing like it did in years past,” he said. “We don’t have the tax base that Pell City or Moody has, per se, and what business we do have here, they’re not taking in the revenues they once did.”

McKay blamed the recession for the lower tax revenue, citing the first time in 23 years that he’s seen a decrease in sales tax revenue in the city.

“There’s negative growth in Ashville right now. We’ve lost storefronts and we have not opened any up. But, the economy has just got us where we are right now,” McKay said.

Throughout the year, the water company’s revenues have been what balanced the city’s budget enough to end in the black.

Between a $2 base rate increase on city water rates, and a $0.01 per dollar increase in sales tax, McKay is hoping for even more progress by this time next year.

“Next year’s figures should show some positives. I don’t expect great things, but it should be positive as far as revenues go.”