In a pair of 5-0 votes Tuesday night, Davidson Commissioners adopted the $8.4 million town budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year beginning July 1 and also endorsed a new marketing and branding plan that town officials hope will attract visitors and businesses to town.

The budget was constructed to cope with the town’s current major financial challenge: Providing a $2 million subsidy in the coming year to the MI-Connection Communications system, which Davidson owns with Mooresville.

The budget leaves property taxes untouched at the current rate of 36.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. But it adds a new trash collection fee, which is expected to be $206 per year for a single-family home and $104 per year for apartments and condos.

To come up with the cash for MI-Connection, town officials tapped the town reserves and also looked for ways to add revenue and cut expenses.

Cost-cutting included a major restructuring of the Town Hall staff that cut the equivalent of two full-time positions. About 17 employees were laid off in the restructuring, many as their job descriptions were rewritten and jobs reposted. Town officials have said some could be rehired to the newly-configured positions. In other cases, the town has gone looking for people with new or different skills than it currently has. Some town functions have been outsourced, including some in Parks & Recreation and Public Works.

One reason the 17 layoffs have led to a net reduction of only two positions is that the town expects to hire several additional part-time firefighters to make up for a decline in volunteers.

The trash collection fee was part of an overhaul of public works. Town officials have said the new fees will raise $749,490, entirely covering the cost of providing trash pickups and recycling.

Meanwhile, the town will help fund the MI-Connection subsidy by spending $804,179 from its reserves, known as its fund balance. That will reduce the reserve from a current $3.47 million, or 41.3 percent of operating expenses, to $2.67 million or 31.7 percent of expenses. Town officials have said reserves likely will be needed again next year, when MI-Connection would need an additional, though likely smaller, subsidy.

On Tuesday, Finance Director Eric Hardy outlined a handful of changes in the proposed budget that came after a public hearing last month and recent discussions. They include:

• Savings of $6,620 by cutting the stipends of Town Board members by 25 percent.
• Savings of $10,910 in contract services.
• Adding $2,650 to a contingency fund for buildings & grounds.
• Savings of $10,500 in the police department’s communications budget by switching to a MI-Connection network service.
• Adding $5,420 for Visit Lake Norman. The figure was increased to adhere to a requirement that the town pay 28 percent of occupancy and prepared food tax revenues to the regional tourism group.
• Adding $16,875 to boosting payments to local nonprofits Davidson Housing Coalition, Davidson Lands Conservancy and the Arts & Science Council. The change equalizes the cuts to all three groups, at 25 percent lower than last year. That issue was discussed in some detail at last month’s public hearing on the budget.

The coming year’s budget also introduces one other major change: It reduces to zero the current property tax surcharge (14-cents per $100 of assessed value) on owners of commercial property downtown and along South Main Street (known as the municipal services district, or MSD). The tax has helped pay for the town’s downtown director, marketing and economic development efforts. Last year, the town proposed extending the tax to the Exit 30 area, but the town board balked after property owners there objected. Town officials said eliminating the tax would remove a potential barrier to business recruitment in the downtown area.

The $8.4 million budget represents the “general fund” portion of the budget. Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Laurie Venzon Tuesday night pointed out that the budget is actually larger than that, if you include money in the town’s “enterprise funds” that must be spent on specific needs.

MARKETING PLAN GETS AN OK

After months of discussion and revisions, the board gave its approval to a proposed branding and marketing plan that was developed this year with the help of Greenville, S.C.-based Arnett Muldrow & Associates.

Downtown Director Sandy Lemons briefly walked the board through a series of recent minor revisions to the plan, which were based on the board’s comments at a meeting last month.

Among other things, the plan now deletes any mention that Davidson residents buy basic goods and services at stores in Mooresville and Cornelius. It reinforces that the tagline on a new town marketing logo will remain consistently as “College town, lake town, your town.” And it deletes Arnett Muldrow’s proposal to expand or do away with the MSD tax, since that tax has now been eliminated.

Now that the plan has been formally adopted, it offers a proposed series of next steps. Ms. Lemons told the board that some depend on funding over the next two budget years.

The 2010-11 budget approved Tuesday includes money and personnel to begin the work. It expands the role of the town communications director into a full-time public information officer, who would handle both communications and marketing. It also creates a new economic development department by shifting the current planning director, Kris Krider, into a new job as economic development manager. He will work with Ms. Lemons.

The budget also includes $20,000 to begin implementing parts of the plan. That includes money for matching grants to help local businesses incorporate the town’s branding campaign, logos and ideas into their own advertising; to update the town’s shopping and dining guide; and to redesign the front page of the town website. It also would pay for a marketing piece for new residents.

The budget also includes $15,000 to study downtown parking.

OTHER MATTERS

The meeting also included an update on the town’s efforts to keep open the local library amid local budget cuts, and a lengthy discussion about goals of the proposed Comprehensive Plan, also known as Plan Davidson. (More about the library to come.)

Before the meeting, the board held a 30-minute closed session, which Mayor John Woods said later was to discuss a personnel matter and a legal matter.

BOARD ACTIONS

Following are the actions taken by the Town Board Tuesday night, June 8, 2010. Some documents linked below.

• Approved Minutes of May 18 and May 25.
• Amended Town of Davidson Master Greenway Lease Agreement with Mecklenburg County to add four parcels. See document below
• Approve 2009 Tax Refund in the amount of $191.82 to Allison Crawford
• Approve FY 2009/2010 budget amendments, document below
• Adopted resolution accepting street maintenance (Bradford Park Drive)
• Accepted Lake Davidson Park Storm Water BMP (“big muddy pond”) for maintenance.
• Approved an updated contract with Odell Fire Department for service in River Run and east side of town. The new contract boosts Davidson’s annual payment to the Odell Fire Department, in Cabarrus County east of Davidson, to $11,750, from $10,000. Odell provides fire and emergency support on the east side of town, including the River Run neighborhood, and the contract to approved Tuesday expands the area covered.
• Approved the proposed town marketing plan developed by Arnett Muldrow & Associates of Greenville, S.C.
• Adopted the proposed Fiscal Year 2010/2011 Budget.
• Approved revisions to the planning department fee schedule.

DOCUMENTS

Download a copy of the marketing plan, (PDF, 8.6mb) CLICK HERE>

2009-10 year-end budget amendments (PDF)

June 8, 2010, revised Davidson town budget for 2010-11 (PDF), CLICK HERE>

New planning fee schedule (PDF),

Newly adopted contract with Odell Fire Department (PDF)

Map of Davidson’s Master Greenway Lease Agreement with Mecklenburg County (PDF)

Resolution to accept Bradford Park Drive as a town street.