At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Early City Council, approval was given to a new budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, which begins October 1.  The budgeted expenditures are $16,651,224, a large increase over the current budget of $10,936,039.  A quick look, however, shows that the great majority of the increase — $5,050,000 — is for infrastructure in the Town Center project.  If you filter that out, the rest of the budget is up about 6% over this year’s budget.

The ad valorum property tax rate will increase to 0.33924-cents per $100 valuation from the current 0.36238-cents, still well below the rate of 0.5630 in the 2016-17 budget year.  The new ad valorum rate along with increased property appraisal valuations means the average property in Early will pay $715.93 in taxes, up $112 from this year.

Increased costs for water and waste disposal necessitated higher rates for water ($2 per month), sewer ($3), and sanitation ($2), for a total of a $7 increase on the monthly utility bill from the City of Early.

On the revenue side, the biggest source of revenue for the City of Early is sales tax.  The new budget calls for sales tax revenue of $2.5 million, well below this year’s sales tax collections, projected to exceed $3 million by the end of the fiscal year.  City Administrator Tony Aaron noted that this is a very conservative estimate, and the City anticipates the sales tax collections next year to be similar to or greater than this year’s collections.  Sales tax revenue in Early has increased 179% over the last seven years, and most of that growth has been fueled by the industrial sector.

Property tax revenue in the new year is budgeted at $1,414,000.

The new budget includes $4 million in loan proceeds for capital improvement projects, many of which will relate to the Town Center Development.  This includes streets, boardwalks, drainage, water, sewer, utilities, parking lots, playgrounds, gardens, etc. The Town Center Lake and Park are expected to be completed by the end of fall 2023.  The batting cages and TMCN Sun Dial will be completed by the end of the year 2023.

In a message attached to the budget, City Administrator Tony Aaron said:  “This budget is a reflection of the council’s programs, goals, policies, and objectives that have been determined through workshops and training.  This budget will act as a guide for our efforts to not only provide basic services but to increase the quality of those services, and improve the quality of life for our community.  When we seek to improve our standards as a community it often comes with a price or a cost to our citizens.  However, we always strive to do so within the financial means of our community without overburdening our citizens.”