Canton approves $79.8 million budget

The Canton City Council has set its budget for the 2023 fiscal year at a little over $79.8 million.

The budget, approved by the city council recently, is an $8.45 million decrease from the current year’s budget of $88.3 million, according to city documents. The general fund, however, is proposed to increase by a little over $1.6 million to nearly $22 million in 2023.

Most of the decrease in the budget comes from a transfer of American Rescue Plan Act funds from the last budget year into the general fund, based on federal rules for revenue loss calculation, as well as reductions in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and sanitation funds, according to city documents.

Of the general fund, the city’s largest budget item is the police department, with a $6.1 million budget — over $5 million in salaries and benefits, and another $1 million on services and supplies.

The budget includes pay raises for police through a new step pay program. The budget also includes raises for civilian employees, moving starting rates to $20 an hour, adding a $5,000 base level increase for all non-contract employees and giving a 5% cost of living raise. There is also an up to 20% increase on employee benefits that represent only the employer share, according to city documents.

City projects and initiatives identified in the budget include the completion of the Etowah River Trail westward connector (Heritage Park to Boling Park), improvements to both Heritage and Harmon parks, planning of a dog park, design and construction of a westside pedestrian bridge, designing for improvements along Highway 140 and additional road paving projects and improvements throughout the city, initiation of Tax Allocation District projects, new downtown housing assisted through the TAD, Shipp Street redevelopment and the creation of an urban development and housing department with a full-time housing initiatives director, according to city documents.

Canton’s fiscal year starts Oct. 1, said Nathan Ingram, assistant city manager with Canton.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the scheduled public hearing on a request from applicant Terry Russell to build a 172-unit townhome development on 38.14 acres along Bluffs Parkway in Riverstone was again tabled to allow the applicant time to make adjustments to the application.

Russell is applying for a master plan amendment to replace previously approved office and commercial uses with residential and a conditional use permit for multi-family, required for three or more attached living units, according to city documents. The proposed density is 4.51 units per acre. The development would be split into two areas. One section would consist of 100 units spread across 17.58 acres, while the other section would consist of 72 units on 20.56 acres, according to city documents. The request is expected to come before the city council in September.