News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The City of Sparta will have a balanced budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
That according to Mayor Jeff Young.
“We were able to most definitely have a balanced budget, fit in the things that we need, always try to do some new projects,” Young said. “Road work, water and sewer work, that type of stuff and try to fit those things into our budget in the most cost-effective manner that we can. But the budget looks good for the City of Sparta this year.”
Young said the budget does not increase the city property tax.
The Sparta 2019-2020 budget sets aside additional funding for road improvements without increasing the property tax.
“That is one of the things we are always very proud of. We try to work as hard as we can to be as frugal with the money as we can,” Young said. “And try to spend the taxpayers’ money as wisely as we can. No tax increase this year for the City of Sparta.”
Young said the budget sets aside funding for water and sewer projects as well as road updates.
“One of the main things we are trying to key on this year, we set aside some extra money over and above our normal budget for road improvements. Our community is in desperate need of having some road repairs done,” Young said. “That is one thing that has been hard for us to do over the last several years. This year we set aside, outside our normal budget, which is $50,000 a year. This year we plan on doing $300,000 worth of road work.”
The Board of Aldermen and Mayor approved the first reading of an ordinance requesting a public referendum in regard to a sales tax increase last week.
Young said the increase in tax would assist future budgets to pay for road and sidewalk improvements.
“When we looked at doing this a couple of years ago, we project that a half a cent increase in the sales tax would create about $750,000 or $760,000 of additional income for the City of Sparta,” Young said.
The Board of Aldermen and Mayor passed the first reading of the budget last Thursday.
