JACKSON TO CONSIDER $16 MILLION BUDGET

A 2001 operating budget of $16 million will be presented to the Jackson Board of Aldermen for approval tonight. That is a 6 percent increase from 2000, a boost consistent with recent city budgets.

A public hearing on the budget will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The budget total amounts to just under $21 million, which includes about $5 million in "pass-through" money from the city's electric and water and sewer bonds.

"The big, important dollars that are going to be spent are all the projects that we are going to be involved in," City Administrator Steve Wilson says. "They are going to have a significant, major impact."

With the exception of building a second feeder line into the city, improvements to the city's electrical distribution system should be completed in 2001. Water line upgrades also should be substantially completed by the end of 2001, Public Works Director Jim Roach says.

The city is running a trunk line around its perimeter in the western and southern reaches.

About half the sewer improvements should be finished in 2001, the remainder the following year, Roach said. The trunk mains being constructed are scattered about the city.

If the budget is approved by the board, some of the increase will pay for capital improvements that include a new trash collection truck, a new police vehicle and a four-wheel drive truck to become part of the fire and rescue fleet. The budget anticipates higher fuel expenses and increases in employee costs such as health insurance and salary increases.

Improvements in the city's water system should be noticeable to residents, Roach said, using a line just completed from Ridge Road across Bent Creek Golf Course to Greensferry Road as an example. "People in the Greensferry road area had terrible water pressure, but pressures have increased dramatically."

Two public hearings initially scheduled for tonight's Board of Aldermen meeting have been delayed because last week's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was postponed due to snow.

Those issues concern the proposed rezoning of 181 properties uptown from C-3 (central business) to (C-2 (general commercial) and a special use permit for a motor vehicle storage and wrecking business at 402 East Adams St. P&Z will consider them at its Jan. 10 meeting.