WARSAW — The Warsaw Board of Commissioners have approved the 2009-2010 fiscal year budget. The budget that was presented to the board by town manager Jason Burrell was balanced and listed the tax rate to be $0.55 per $100 for the $4,394,628.91 budget.

Burrell stated that the budget includes a continued high level of service to the citizens of Warsaw as well as an aim to promote more efficient means of task completion in all departments and a deeper integration of technology into the town’s everyday operations.

The manager shared that the budget included a $300,431.11 from fund balance to balance the general fund budget. Burrell also added that collections of prior year taxes is budgeted at $25,000 and is a reduction of $10,000 from last year while the tax collection rate for 2008 taxes has passed 94 percent, including both current and back taxes owed to the town.

Health insurance costs for town employees increased from $433 to $460 per employee per month, which the manager commented was much lower than many other municipalities.

Other features of the budget showed that most all departments’ office expenses were cut as well as some travel expense from the administrative department. However monies were included for job and software training opportunities.

There is a three percent salary increase included in the budget and the budget reflected that the town’s fee schedule remained the same as the current fiscal year’s budget.

The commissioners’ vote was unanimous to adopt the proposed budget.

There was to be a special called meeting of the board of commissioners Monday to consider health insurance proposals that have been submitted, but that was not expected to significantly affect the approved budget.

To contact Billy Todd, call 910-592-8137 ext. 117 or e-mail sigeneral@myclintonnc.com.