The budget and tax rate for fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2018 was passed on the second and final reading by the Red Bank commissioners at a Tuesday night meeting. There will be no increase of property taxes, said Mayor John Roberts. The city is in good fiscal shape he said. Residential development has been on the upswing, and commercial development is not far behind, evidenced by the increase in building permits, said the mayor.
The property tax rate will remain at $1.35 per $100 of assessed value.
The budget includes the purchase of police cars and a two percent raise for city employees. Several infrastructure projects are planned for the upcoming year, and the building that the city bought last year, two doors away from the present city hall, will be remodeled to use for the new administrative offices. Work on that building will begin soon after the new budget goes into effect, said City Manager Randall Smith.
One of the infrastructure projects planned is reinforcing the banks of Stringers Branch Creek that runs under the intersection of Dayton Boulevard and Ashland Terrace. Traffic will be re-routed through Red Bank during the work. The city has obtained a domain name, www.ashlandterraceproject.com that will have updated information about the road closure in order to inform the public, said the city manager. He said that he is still working with the engineers on the plan. The work is expected to start in late August or mid-September.
A citizen whose home backs up to property at the corner of Hedgewood Drive and Lynda Drive came to the meeting asking for help. The owner of the lot in question bulldozed every tree and piled them up on the property line. He moved dirt around piling it up and digging holes, now threatening the stability of a neighbor’s house, with the plan of using the lot for two new homes, it was stated. The owner died two weeks ago, leaving the property in that condition. Now other people have started using the lot as a dump site, and, said the citizen, there are chunks of asphalt and concrete blocks, making it look like a junk pile, he said.
The city is aware of the situation and Public Works Director Tim Thornbury has spoken to relatives of the deceased property owner. They are asking for more time to decide what to do with the land. The house that sits on it has already been condemned and plans were to take it down, but the city does not have the authority to take over the property, said City Attorney Arnold Stulce. At aminimum, the city will replace the lid to the sewer that the man removed and move dirt that had been piled on the city’s right of way, said Mr. Thornbury.
The commissioners approved resolutions that proclaimed two former residents of Red Bank, Linda Billingsly Pepper and Glenn R. Hanna, to be honorary citizens of the city.
The next regular meeting of the Red Bank Commission has been canceled because it falls on July 4.