La Grange tax rate to drop

LA GRANGE - Residential growth and a maneuver by town officials helped bring in more revenue for La Grange without passing a significant tax rate increase onto residents for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins Wednesday.

The new municipal tax rate is 42.5 cents per $100 of taxable property, down from 45 cents last year. Water rates will also increase $1 per month for residents because of a contractual obligation La Grange has with the town of Farmville.

The latest Lenoir County revaluation showed an overall increase in property values of about 19 percent for The Garden Spot, according to Town Manager John Craft. This allowed town officials to bring increase revenue by about $40,000 without increasing taxes.

"(Sutton Acres) has been a really successful subdivision for us," Craft said. "We've had good growth in Sutton Acres and have seen steady growth in Huntington Park.

"We've had people building this year even with (the economy) as bad as it's been."

Another major factor in keeping La Grange's tax rate the lowest in Lenoir County was the decision to switch from its own police force for law enforcement to a contract with Lenoir County for sheriff's office coverage. That will actually save the town twice as much in the first contract year as officials originally planned because some upfront costs have already been covered, though Craft said these savings won't be seen immediately.

"I'm very pleased to only have a dollar increase in water rates," Craft said. "We're funding the second phase of Sutton Acres subdivision and we actually participate in development costs to keep the subdivision moving.

"We're doing a lot as far as expenditures for those improvements, but with the tax revenue being off, I'm very pleased we're not having any more (increases) than we do."

In these hard economic times, Craft said it was a tough budget to balance.

"Even though there's a slight increase overall, it could have been a lot worse," he said. "We're pleased we were able to do what we needed."

Justin Schoenberger can be reached at (252) 559-1075 or jschoenberger@freedomenc.com

2009-2010 La Grange general fund appropriations

General Government  $114,458

Administration              $69,906

Building inspections   $41,150

Police (contracted)       $539,099

Fire (contracted)           $35,000

Street $394,837

Power Bill        $149,529

Sanitation        $286,661

Recreation       $63,450

Cemetery         $57,674

Library              $21,700

Council on aging          $5,500

Scout facility   $3,550

Total General Fund     $1,782,564