HAGERSTOWN
Significant projects are proposed in the next Hagerstown budget, but plenty will be decided over the next several weeks, the city council heard Tuesday during an early 2006-07 budget discussion.
Such as, should the city raise taxes to hire more police officers and firefighters?
The $134.4 million budget proposed for the next fiscal year is about $26.2 million higher than this year's.
However, property tax rates would not go up.
"After years of stagnant growth in our primary source of operating revenues, Hagerstown began to benefit from stronger property tax revenue growth in the past year," a budget overview says.
Elected officials received the budget plan Friday and heard it explained Tuesday.
The city council must pass a final 2006-07 budget by the end of May.
City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman said Tuesday that the city faced general-fund deficits of $2 million in 2003-04 and $1.75 million in 2004-05, but those deficits have been erased.