Tax collection tools credited with boosting surplus

View larger image Judson Rex

By Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- Strasburg was given high marks in its 2011 audit, having ended the fiscal year with a budget surplus of $269,523.

Audit documents show that for fiscal 2011, which ended June 30, revenue exceeded expenditures by that amount. The total was up about $88,000 from the 2010 fiscal year.
Overall spending, however, was down by about $208,000 compared with 2010.

Dottie Mullins, Strasburg's finance director, said that part of the reason for the growth in the surplus was that each department worked hard to watch expenses because of how difficult managing finances has been in recent years, mostly because of the poor economy.

"Hopefully, [this year is a sign] that things are turning around," she said.

Other reasons the surplus was higher in 2011 include more stringent tactics for collecting delinquent taxes and more revenue from access fees for new water and sewer lines.

Mullins said that in the last few years the town has begun putting "stops" on residents' records at the Department of Motor Vehicles, which means they cannot renew a driver's license or conduct other business at the agency until their taxes are paid.

"It's been a great collection tool, and several other localities are using [it] now," she said.

Many of the water and sewer "new-start" access fees have come from housing developments, according to Town Manager Judson Rex, particularly the Homewood development.

"We had 26 new connections to the system [in 2011]. There were a number in Homewood and some in other new developments," Rex said. "Overall those were pretty good numbers for us. We only anticipated having 17."

Revenue from the new starts helped bolster the operating budget.

The main outstanding debt for the town is a loan for construction and engineering services for the new wastewater treatment plant.

Mullins said the town began payment on the 40-year schedule in October. Although a specific opening date for the plant has not yet been set, Rex said that he anticipates it will be sometime in the next six months.

Once it is operating, Mullins said the town will work with the engineer to project expenses for the year.

"We are not sure what the electric bills will be, but hopefully it will be more energy efficient than the last plant," she said. "It's a guessing game. Some of the expenses of the plant will increase because it is a larger plant, there's more equipment and it's more computerized."