While the Town of Bel Air's property tax rate of 50 cents per $100 of assessed valuation and the personal property tax rate of $1.16 per $100 of assessed value won't change this year, town residents and businesses face higher sewer charges coming July 1.
The Board of Town Commissioners approved the town's new operating budget of $16,030,714 for the 2015-16 fiscal year Monday night, following a brief public hearing during which no one spoke.
Overall, total spending by the town is increasing by about $106,000, or less than 0.6 percent, but the general fund, which includes most major activities, including police, will decrease $96,000 to $12,442,603.
Town employees are due to get merit raises averaging 3.5 percent, Town Administrator Jesse Bane said earlier in the budget process.
"This is the tightest budget I've seen," Town Commissioner Edward Hopkins said. "It's an amazing piece of work."
Saying the town has had to deal with "some lean times the past few years, particularly where [property] assessments are concerned," Mayor Robert Reier said he hopes those trends have started to reverse.
"We appreciate the efforts of the staff," he said. "It's not boiler plate; every year has its unique challenges."
Finance Director Lisa Moody said the sewer use rate will increase from $5.57 to $5.91 per 1,000 gallons, about 6.1 percent.
The increase includes a 1.6 percent adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index as of December 2014, as is built into the current rate schedule, Moody explained, plus a 25-cent per 1,000 gallons increase mandated by Harford County to cover the cost of enhanced nutrient removal, or ENR.
Though the Bel Air government maintains the sewer lines and related infrastructure throughout the town, the sewage is treated by Harford County. Moody noted that a significant portion of the sewer fund budget of $2.44 million, is the $1.6 million the town pays to the county, with the remainder going for operation of the town's facilities, debt costs and administrative overhead.
Moody also said the town commissioners will need to pass an ordinance next month reflecting the 25-cent ENR increase, which isn't built into the current rate structure.
The town bills residents and businesses two ways for sewer service. There is a base rate tied to the size of the property's water meter, which ranges from $7.77 per quarter for a standard 3/8-inch house meter to $43.74 for a 3/4-inch meter and $72.87 for a 1-inch meter used by smaller commercial properties or higher, depending again on the connection.
Moody said Tuesday night that the base rates will go up by the same 1.6 percent CPI increase as the user rates, so the $7.77 rate for the typical residence will increase to $7.90 quarterly.
Residential customers are typically billed quarterly for their consumption, again based on water usage, while businesses and other commercial properties are billed monthly.
Bel Air homes and businesses get their water from the privately-owned Maryland American Water, which has a rate increase pending before the Maryland Public Service Commission that is expected to be decided sometime in June.
Monday's second of two public hearings focused on the sewer, parking and grant fund budgets. No one spoke.
The parking fund budget will decrease by $27,000 to $515,209. The big change is the town resurfaced the Thomas Street lot in the current budget, an expense that won't carry to the new budget. Parking fund revenue is also projected to decline, mostly because lower fine collections are forecast, Moody said.
Total grant revenue will increase about $140,000 to $628,000, with most of it coming from the town's federal community development block grant and a $100,000 increase through the state community legacy grant funding being used for the Bel Air Reckord Armory garages redevelopment project. Total grant funding for the project will be $425,000 in the new budget.