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Council members raised a number of other issues during the budget workshop. A.P. Coleman suggested that council might want to look at raising minimum housing standards. Hollomon said there needs to be an appearance standard. Currently, a house does not violate standards unless more than 75 percent of its exterior paint is gone. "A lot of these houses meet minimum standards, but do not look like houses you'd want in your neighborhood," he said. Mayor Bruce Rose asked about the possibility of reading utilities meters electronically, without using meter readers. Fred Horne, director of utilities, said the city is experimenting with meters that can be read remotely in some new subdivisions, but the cost of putting such meters on existing buildings would be prohibitive. It would cost $50 per meter, and there are three meters on each housing unit, one each for water, electricity and gas. Coleman asked Wyatt if he was satisfied with the diversity of city personnel. Wyatt replied that the city actively recruits women and minorities for positions, but has room for improvement. Coleman asked for consideration of ways to improve living standards for the lower-paid employees. Don Evans and Bob Thaxton asked what has happened to the money the city used to reallocate from the electric fund to the general fund. The Local Governments Commission, which is part of the state treasurer's office, has required cities to decrease the amount of utilities income that is used to subsidize city government. Horne replied that some has been used to absorb some of the increased costs of buying electricity, instead of passing all of the increases on to customers. Some will be used to fund the salaries of the new customer service representatives in the budget proposal. But most of it has gone into savings, which will be used for capital improvements. Horne anticipates the need for $20 million in improvements to the electricity transmission system over the next five years to meet increased power needs as the city grows. Gordon Baker, city finance director, said that the Local Governments Commission wants city utilities departments to build up as much financial reserve as possible to assure repayment of bond debt undertaken as part of ElectriCities. Following the budget workshop, council held the first of two public hearings on the proposed budget. Two citizens spoke to council, one on each side of the issue of increased wastewater fees to fund capital improvements to the wastewater treatment system. Bill Biddle, representing Wilson County Taxpayers Association, equated the proposed increases in water and sewage fees with taxes and said they burdened local industries and families
struggling to make ends meet. He did express support for the addition of three positions in the fire and police departments. Rob Robbins commended council for funding the improvements in wastewater treatment. You may reach Margaret J. Stair at margaret@wilsondaily.com or at 265-7878.