The items will be taken up at the Sept. 10 meeting.
Zooming in
Council members’ decision was prompted by Finance Director Kyle Lester, who said staff reviewed figures and came across “a strong possibility of an alternative solution, but with a lower tax rate as well as building [a] sustainable budget.” He asked for more time to fully vet the figures and distribute the plan to council. He also asked council to table a measure that would ratify increasing the property tax rate, which council approved tabling along with the items on the tax rate and budget.
The breakdown
In a previous Community Impact story, Lester said that taxes were increasing because of some revenue gaps, including in part how the city’s annual operations are heavily reliant upon sales tax receipts. Lester explained that for the third year in a row, city officials are seeing those revenues slow down to a point that they are unable to keep up with rising costs in this year’s budget.
Roanoke city staff previously released a projected budget that showed operating revenue funds were expected to be $55.4 million, and expenditures were expected to be $63.3 million, of which $25.4 million will be spent on salaries and benefits, comprising the bulk of the city's expenses. Of that $63.3 million, Lester said previously that about $7.86 million is for one-time costs, for which the city will use available cash reserves. This primarily consists of vehicles, equipment and facility improvements, Community Impact previously reported.
Council at the meeting also approved amending the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for approximately 18.5 acres of land by changing the zoning from Single-Family-7 District and Retail District to Planned Development District with Multifamily and Single Family Detached uses, although the property will not feature multifamily usage. The property, for single family and senior living, is generally located near SH 114 and close to Lois, North Oak and Walnut streets and Dorman Road.
The item was tabled at the Aug. 13 meeting so Kenneth Fambro, chief operating officer of Integrated Real Estate Group in Southlake, could explore increasing road widths, or right of way, in the single-family portion of the proposed Watermere development after some questions from the council surfaced.
Fambro then formulated some revisions for the single-family portion of the property that were presented to the city.
After the meeting, Roanoke Fire Chief Christopher Addington said in an email that through discussions with the developer, “We accepted the roadways at 24 feet, with fire lane striping throughout the addition. The cul-de-sac at the north end was reconfigured to allow a full 96-foot radius and widened at the entry. An emergency-only access off of Lois [Street] was added and changed from grasscrete to concrete.”
