2008 Woodie Awards
City to double safety spending, raise taxes
Brady Holt
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: News
College Park City Council members agreed during the weekend to propose a $12.8 million annual budget that would double city spending on public safety for the next fiscal year and raise taxes by nearly 8 percent to help pay for the increase.
For homeowners and landlords with a house valued at $200,000, the 2.3-cent property tax increase means they will pay more than $640 in taxes next year instead of this year's $590.80. City officials expect the tax hike will bring in more than $1 million.
The steep increase of public safety funding comes as City Manager Joe Nagro negotiates with the county to bring several full-time police officers to the city from the county force. While more expensive than the city's current $500,000 contract program that hires moonlighting officers to patrol the city, full-time officers under contract would provide the city with a more consistent police presence, experts have said.
Other budget highlights included a first-ever $1,500 stipend for the Student Government Association-appointed student liaison to the city council; money for the planned downtown parking garage; and a budget item that would help create more street parking for College Park Towers residents along Guilford Road.
The student liaison stipend was a request made by Mayor Stephen Brayman, leading this year's student liaison Danielle Kogut to wonder whether her giving up a waitress job to serve as a liaison had anything to do with it.
"I don't know if the mayor thought of this because he knew that I had quit my job halfway through the term, but each [council] member does get a stipend," Kogut said. "I think it was a natural progression for the student leaders to get one."
Council members are paid $4,400 per year and the mayor makes $6,600.Kogut said the $1,500 stipend should open up the position to students who need a paying job during the year.
The Guilford Road budget item will create 15 new parking spots that will help increase the parking near College Park Towers, where it has historically been tight. Council members cited low demand for Knox Box resident permits as a reason to limit some Guilford Road spots to College Park Towers residents, who will pay $40 monthly for permits generating an estimated $5,400 in revenue.
For homeowners and landlords with a house valued at $200,000, the 2.3-cent property tax increase means they will pay more than $640 in taxes next year instead of this year's $590.80. City officials expect the tax hike will bring in more than $1 million.
The steep increase of public safety funding comes as City Manager Joe Nagro negotiates with the county to bring several full-time police officers to the city from the county force. While more expensive than the city's current $500,000 contract program that hires moonlighting officers to patrol the city, full-time officers under contract would provide the city with a more consistent police presence, experts have said.
Other budget highlights included a first-ever $1,500 stipend for the Student Government Association-appointed student liaison to the city council; money for the planned downtown parking garage; and a budget item that would help create more street parking for College Park Towers residents along Guilford Road.
The student liaison stipend was a request made by Mayor Stephen Brayman, leading this year's student liaison Danielle Kogut to wonder whether her giving up a waitress job to serve as a liaison had anything to do with it.
"I don't know if the mayor thought of this because he knew that I had quit my job halfway through the term, but each [council] member does get a stipend," Kogut said. "I think it was a natural progression for the student leaders to get one."
Council members are paid $4,400 per year and the mayor makes $6,600.Kogut said the $1,500 stipend should open up the position to students who need a paying job during the year.
The Guilford Road budget item will create 15 new parking spots that will help increase the parking near College Park Towers, where it has historically been tight. Council members cited low demand for Knox Box resident permits as a reason to limit some Guilford Road spots to College Park Towers residents, who will pay $40 monthly for permits generating an estimated $5,400 in revenue.
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jimbo
posted 4/08/08 @ 9:44 AM EST
I am as anti-tax as anyone, but for police, I am more than willing to shell it out. I'd be willing to pay more, in fact, than $50 lousy dollars more a year. (Continued…)
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