Taxes and Budgets in Franklinton

How many of us actually take a look at the budget? Not our own personal one, but the Town’s budget – a governmental budget. We’re lucky. The budget for the Town of Franklinton fits in a 1” binder and is only about 50 pages long. If we were working with the County, or even the city of Raleigh, our budget would be several binders thick! (During the Inauguration, I went through the Museum of American History...and let me tell you, they have the 1997 US Budget...and it's over A FOOT TALL!)

When you look at the budget for the Town of Franklinton, you’ll notice it’s divided into several funds. The major two are the General and Utility funds. The Powell Bill fund is specific to streets and sidewalks. There’s also a cemetery fund, and a couple of other small funds. But let’s talk big for a minute.

Take a look at the General Fund. That’s where your tax dollars go. That’s where all major revenue goes, except for utility revenue. Your property taxes, the sales tax the town receives from the state, the utility tax proceeds we receive, as well as any other miscellaneous revenues all go into the General Fund. From this fund, we pay for the employees at Town Hall, administratively, as well as the Police Department. That fund is also how we pay for many things, such as office supplies, police cars, ammunition, other police equipment, flags, etc. It’s also how we fund smaller projects, such as the URC, the town’s donation to the Franklinton Recreational Association, as well as how we pay dues to different organizations the Town is a member of, such as the Council of Government, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Chambers of Commerce.

The Utility Fund is where your water and sewer bills go. (The sanitation bill, which is the third part of your utility bill, goes into a separate fund.) It’s also where the payments for the wastewater that the Town sends to the County for processing come from, as well as how we pay our employees in Public Works. We also use those revenues to fund the chemicals needed to treat water, etc.

So there you go…that’s your budget in a nutshell. So how do we make new things happen? Three ways. We can cut expenses, which, given our rather skeletal budget – you may not think it is, but trust me…I’ve spent enough time with it to know, it is – can be a challenge. We can raise taxes, which is never popular, but even more so right now. A one cent tax increase gains the town roughly $8,500. We’d need a three to five cent tax increase to fund new staff. Thus…you can see how that’s a challenge. Lastly, when property values are redone – called revaluation – we have the chance to reset the tax rate, which, when an honest look at it, is a de facto tax increase, just in a different form. So…while we don’t like to raise fees or taxes…sometimes, it’s a necessary evil. It’s a hard choice, and we honestly do look at any way we can cut expenses first.