4/18/14 - The Brighton City Council will adopt the coming year budget for the city next month, and according to city officials, the downward spiral that has caused major cuts over the past several years is starting to reverse itself. City Manager Dana Foster gave a detailed presentation on the spending plan at Thursday nightâs meeting, which preceded a public hearing on the budget - at which no residents spoke. Foster tells WHMI the budget for the coming year is sufficiently healthy that he is anticipating being able to start putting some funds away for some much-needed infrastructure projects in the future. The budget as proposed includes an increase in curbside refuse collection charges from the current $13.77 per month to $14.48 a month, which totals $8.52 more per year. The reason for the recommended increase is that the amount collected last year was about $50,000 short of what it costs the city to provide the service through Mister Rubbish. Prior to two years ago, the city paid for refuse pickup itself through property ownersâ taxes, but has since been forced to assess a fee for the service. In addition to the garbage collection fee increase, residents can expect a 1-2% increase in water and sewer rates. The budget for next year â with all its constituent individual budgets â totals $13.5 million. That includes a general fund budget of $7.8 million. Most of the remainder of the overall budget is comprised of the utilities fund, which includes sewer and water and totals $4.2 million. The 2014-15 city budget takes effect on July 1, the start of the cityâs new fiscal year. (TT)
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