By DONNA RYDER Messenger Associate Editor

By DONNA RYDER
Messenger Associate Editor
Union City residents will see no increase in their property tax rate this year.
The Union City Council approved on first readings a tax rate of $2.02 per $100 of assessed property and a near $19 million 2007-08 fiscal year budget Tuesday evening.
The total budget for all services is $18,927,683. This compares to $17,713,990 for 2006-07. The general government budget is $12,221,301, an increase of $810,890. The water and sewer budget is $4,652,932, which is an increase of $340,703; and the restricted services budget is $2,048,850, an increase of $62,100.
There is a 3 percent salary increase, which will be retroactive to July, 1, 2007.
The city anticipates receiving $325,000 from the state street aid fund for street maintenance.
A major projects fund in the planning and codes enforcement includes $30,000 for demolition of dilapidated buildings. The police department fund includes $45,000 for initial engineering and land purchase on a new police station. The public works street department includes $200,000 for streets into the new industrial park, $40,000 — a 20 percent match — to replace the bridge on West Cheatham Street, $25,000 for a two-ton truck, $87,000 for a knuckleboom truck and $17,000 for a leaf machine.
Major expenses in the turf management and facilities operation department include $75,000 for grounds improvement, $60,000 for ballfield renovations and $17,000 to irrigate L.H. Ladd Field. The parks and cemeteries department has budgeted $150,000 to fence East View Cemetery with money from the perpetual care fund.
The city’s direct appropriation for education is $1,212,500 for general operation. Property insurance for the education system is projected to be $49,100. The total proposed budget for education is $1,261,600.
Local agencies receiving funds in the budget include Obion County Public Library, $158,754; Obion County Museum, $4,000; Vocational Rehab Center, $37,675; Obion County Senior Citizens Center, $8,000; Obion County Ministerial Association, $2,000; Obion County Arts Council, $3,000; Obion County Habitat for Humanity, $5,000; I-69 Coalition, $1,750; Community Developmental Services, $1,000; Obion County CornFest, $10,000; Boys & Girls Club of Northwest Tennessee, $7,200; Joint Economic Development Council Step-Up Program, $32,628; and Babe Ruth program, $5,000. These appropriations grew from $266,364 last fiscal year.
Major water and sewer expenditures in this year’s budget include $250,000 for repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment and $40,000 for engineering, which includes painting of the 51 North water tank. In the public works department, $240,000 has been set aside to extend water and sewer to the new industrial park, while $635,000 has been budgeted for Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project No. 2, $14,600 to trade for a track hoe and $25,000 for the purchase of a two-ton truck for public works. The wastewater department’s fund includes $259,500 for repairs to the decanters and basins at the Strub Plant.
Restricted services budgeted include $169,000 for cemetery perpetual care fund, $46,000 for drug enforcement, $7,720 for City Beautiful Commission, $170,000 for hotel/motel tax and $1,295,000 for the solid waste fund. The anticipated hotel/motel tax will be divided as follows: 42 percent to the Obion County Industrial Development Corp., 39 percent to the Obion County Chamber of Commerce, 14 percent to Main Street-Union City and 5 percent to the city’s general fund.
Associate Editor Donna Ryder can be contacted by e-mail at dryder@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger on 11.23.07