Town Of Century Needs To Find A Quarter Million Dollars..Fast

September 3, 2008

The Town of Century needs to find a way to save a quarter million dollars, and they need to do it fast.

The town’s accountant, Robert Hudson, told the town council at their Tuesday night meeting that they need to approve a budget early next week in order to hold a public hearing on that budget by September 11.

The budget for the next fiscal year has a $255,000 deficit, according to Council president Ann Brooks. “We have a much larger shortfall than we’ve been having,” she said.

The $255,000 shortfall assumes the council chooses a cheaper health plan for town employees. The town currently pays about $161,000 a year for health benefits, but that number would rise to $212,000 if they council did not make a health benefit change. Brooks said one plan being considered would cost the town about $150,000 per year.

The town council will hold a workshop meeting at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9 to finalize their choice of health insurance plans, and to insert numbers they are getting from quotes for workman’s comp, liability and life insurance into the budget. They will hold a special meeting immediately following the workshop to approve the budget.

A first public hearing  on the budget will be held at 5:01 p.m. on Thursday, September 11 for public input on the budget.

In other business Tuesday night, the Century Town Council:

  • Approved a five year schedule for capital improvement grant applications for the Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex,  Fischer’s Landing and  water, sewer and stormwater improvements. That schedule was made part of the town’s comprehensive plan.
  • Postponed public hearings  on grant application for the Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex and Fischer’s Landing because the public hearings were not properly advertised. The public hearings were postponed to the council’s next regular meeting on September 15.
  • Heard from council member Gary Riley who said the council needs a comprehensive plan for dealing with disasters, not just hurricanes.
  • Approved a separate bank account for funds related to the Veteran’s Memorial Wall.

The meeting, which was moved to Tuesday because of Monday’s Labor Day holiday, was held in near record time…about 30 minutes. For the first time since taking office, Mayor Freddie McCall had nothing for his “mayor’s report” portion of the meeting.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News