SOUTHPORT, N.C. (WECT) – Residents in Southport may be paying more in taxes due to a 6.1 cents tax hike in the city’s proposed budget.

Listed in the Board of Alderman’s FY2024-2025 Budget Message to taxpayers, city staff included a breakdown of the proposed tax hike: 1 cent going towards capital, 1.3 cents going towards three new firefighter positions, and 3.8 cents going towards partially offsetting the Water/Sewer Merger gap of $1.2 million.

Staff noted a penny equals $145,000 for the city.

The message also notes, “Although taxes would go up 6.1 cents, a reminder that with the Water/Sewer Merger, water and sewer rates went down an average of $775 per year which means taxpayers would still be saving money with a 6.1 cent tax increase.”

The biggest change to the budget comes down to the loss of revenue from the Water and Wastewater budget that was typically used to offset expenses from the General Fund, according to city staff.

“In last year’s budget, a minimum of $1.2 million of revenues from the Water/Sewer fund offset General Fund salaries and expenses related to work done by General Fund staff. The Board did appropriate $1.2 million in water and sewer fund balance to assist the General Fund in absorbing the costs and the Board is utilizing $200,000 of that money set aside to offset these costs. The rest of the money will be used in future years to continue to offset the lost revenues,” staff said.

Leaders ask for public input

Mayor Rich Alt said the Board of Alderman welcomes input from residents on how their taxpayer money should be spent.

“The citizens are encouraged to come and talk to us about their thoughts, and trust me, they have been talking to us. There hasn’t been a wave of ‘go, go go.’ It’s, like, you need to start cutting some stuff,” he explained.

City staff explained in the Budget Message that if residents want to prioritize a high level of service, that will come at a cost.

“If you want to continue this high level of service, keep up with capital items to protect City assets, and retain our current employees, the cost of expenditures will keep increasing just with inflation alone. If you want to decrease the level of services or a certain service altogether, then we might be able to decrease future budgets. That is a decision the taxpayers must decide upon for the future,” staff explained.

Alt is asking residents who are both concerned or satisfied with the tax hike to voice their opinions at the next public meeting on Monday, June 17 at 6 p.m. at the Southport Community Building.

“I’m now reviewing the budget to figure out if there are things that we can postpone, things that we can cut permanently. Can we, if we have to do a tax increase, which most likely we will have to do, can we do it more gradually?” he questioned.

The budget needs to be approved by the last day of June.

You can view Southport’s Budget Message starting on page 23:

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