Photo by Jason Benavides

June 6. By Dave Vieser. The town’s staff plans to give Town Commissioners the opportunity to adopt the proposed $28.35 million 2023 fiscal year budget at tonight’s board meeting. The spending plan calls for a one-cent tax increase in the town tax rate.

One-time ARPA funding

Town Manager Andrew Grant said the proposed FY23 budget has an additional $4.8 million of ARPA funds that will supplant Public Safety salaries to free up funds for various projects, so the combination of budget and one-time ARPA funds is $33 million. Approximately $4 million of the ARPA-supplanted funds have been earmarked for projects in the draft FY23 budget, Grant said.

Grant

“Our public hearing on the budget will continue Monday, but we also realize that the board may then also choose to vote on the manager’s recommended budget so we have attached the necessary documents to adopt the budget,” Grant said.

Per state law, a new spending plan must be adopted by July 1.

What does a penny cost?

A penny increase in property taxes would represent an additional $45 a year on a property assessed at $450,000.

If adopted by the Town Board, the tax rate would increase to 0.232 per $100 tax value and would be the first town property tax increase in Cornelius since 2018.

Also at Monday’s meeting, whicch begins at 6 pm at Town Hall, the commissioners will receive a presentation from CMS Board member Rhonda Cheek on school-related matters.