Byrdstown Aldermen have approved an estimated $5 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that features raises for town employees.
Byrdstown Mayor Sam Gibson said the budget will include a $1 per hour pay increase for all city employees. Gibson said Byrdstown has been making efforts over the past several years to improve the salaries for town employees.
“We are trying to get them up to compete with the rest of the world out there with the salaries, so we don’t have insurance here in one of our benefits, so we have to try and make up for it a little bit with some of the other items in our budget.”
Gibson said property taxes will remain at 35 cents per $100 of assessed value. Gibson said he feels good about the budget, even though the revenue is projected to be fairly similar to last year.
“We have not depleted our fund balance in our budget,” Gibson said. “We have continued even doing that to add funds to our budget and increase our fund balance, so for our size we’ve got a really decent fund balance, so we feel like that we are handling things very well and as I would put it I would think we ar ein really good shape with our budget.”
Gibson said Byrdstown will increase water rates by three percent. Gibson said the comptroller’s office requires the town to raise water rates to help keep the town’s water fund afloat. Gibson said the comptroller’s office asked the town to increase the rate higher than three percent, but the town is being mindful of those who may be living on social security.
“It’s a little more money, but it’s affordable for most people, and so that’s what we try to do, and we try to look out for those people without having to wait a year or two and then hit them with a 15-20 percent increase,” Gibson said.
Gibson said the town’s water fund tends to be tight every year. Gibson said this past year, the water department found multiple leaks in the Pall Mall area that took several months to address. Gibson said the leaks were a setback for the town’s water fund.
Byrdstown Aldermen approved the budget Monday night on first reading.
