Minutes 06/19/1975 - Laserfiche WebLink

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f .. t-- THURSDAY JUNE 19, 1975 The main reason for this is that the budgets were balanced during the last four years by methods other than tax increases. Very simply, in my opinion, we have been living beyond our means. Three examples: (1) In Fiscal 1972 the real estate billing procedure was changed from once a year to twice a year which resulted in a net of $753,674.00 additional revenues to the General Fund for that year; ( 2 ) in Fiscal 1974 and Fiscal 1975 the City used $740,000.00 of Federal Revenue-Sharing Funds to pay for operating expenses; and ( 3 ) in each of the Fiscal years 1971 through 1975 the net profits of the Electric Department, which were budgeted for transfer to the General Fund, were over estimated and, because of this, Council was forced to use $427,915.00 of Electric Department Surplus to balance the budget, thus reducing the Electric Department Surplus to only $87,000.00. On the one hand, I disagree with some of the budget-balancing decisions made during the past four years; on the other hand, I commend past Council decisions and leadership in building the services of the City to a level in which every citizen can enjoy and take pride. I have just completed a study of the services that the City is offering, and while time prevents me from listing all of the City services, I present a few examples which I feel are particularly noteworthy: In 1974 the total arrests by the Martinsville Police Department were 4,315 compared to 3,424 in 1973 and 3,128 in 1972 - a 38% increase in two years. In December of 1972 Council added a five man Traffic Squad to the Police Department because, in 1972, traffic accidents had climbed to an all-time high of 1,063. In 1973 traffic accidents dropped 23% to 815, and dropped to 718 in 1974, a 10-year low. Chief Gard estimates that the work of the traffic squad is saving Martinsville Citizens $23,513.00 in property damages per month - close to $300,000.00 per year. In 1974 Martinsville Citizens reported $190,000.00 in stolen property to the Police Department. The Police recovered $95,000.00 of the property - a 50% recovery. The national average for recoveries is 31%. According to Chief Gard, if Martinsville citizens call the police, the police will be there in 4 to 5 minutes. The average waiting time in Henry County is 30 to 40 minutes. 58% of the 1974 Martinsville High School graduating class went to college compared to 48% in all Virginia cities and 37% in Henry County.