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Winston-Salem Budget: Property Tax Increase And Pay Bumps For City Workers

Winston-Salem Transit Authority building. Photo: David Ford/WFDD

The Winston-Salem City Council has approved a new budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. It includes a raise for city employees.

Winston-Salem Council members voted 4 to 3 on Monday to approve the $482.4 million budget. City leaders say the new plan will address two needs. One is sustaining and improving public transportation. That includes adding more bus routes at night and on weekends.

And the second will make salaries for city employees more competitive.

According to a recent study, the average starting pay in Winston-Salem for municipal workers is about 8 percent less than comparable cities.

“They've raised the minimum wage to $11.25 cents an hour for all city employees," says Patrice Toney, Winston-Salem's budget and evaluation director.

“On top of that, there's been a huge problem trying to retain and recruit police officers,” she says.

City leaders say the budget includes retention and base pay increases for police officers.

The raises will come at a cost, however. Homeowners will see an increase in the tax rate under the new plan. It amounts to an additional 1.24 cents. With the increase, the new rate will be 59.74 cents for every $100 of taxable property.

“This was also a re-evaluation year and there was additional growth in the property tax base, so a lot of those resources will help us be able to support these critical needs,” says Toney.

The budget also includes a fare hike for Trans-Aid, which provides transportation services for riders with disabilities. It will go from 50 cents to $1.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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