City budget to set stage for tax hike

The city council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center.

The prospect of a tax increase is weighing heavily with at least two council members.

“I’m not going to be voting for that,” declared mayor pro tem Keith Burchett, who said when he ran for office he pledged not to vote for a tax increase.

Darren Owensby, Ward 2, also looked uneasy about voting for what could be a three-quarter-mill hike.

The council spent much of Monday night’s work session agonizing over the budget, not so much with the numbers as with what it took to achieve them. In addition to the tax hike, the budget requires the layoffs of three people (as opposed to a rumor sweeping City Hall of 15-22 jobs being cut) and a reduction in hours of four more employees.

“It looks like Darren and I are the biggest rate raisers in history,” Burchett complained. “We’ve gone up on every damn thing.”

“We were just waiting for you,” Mayor Charles L. Hardy joked.

Burchett’s comments referenced the recent water and sewer rate increases ranging from 24 to 28 percent.

Owensby asked if the crisis could have been averted by implementing small annual rate increases all along.

City manager Clarence Bryant blamed the closure of the Louisiana-Pacific plant in Center, which used $500,000 worth of natural gas a year, for the city’s angst.

“If LP was still operating, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” he said. “We could handle the economy.”