Mayor says budget is complete
Town of Bryson Mayor Tom Sutton said that the 2025-26 fiscal year budget would be put to bed next week.
“We will have public comment as required by law on the 24th,” said Sutton. “Once that ends, we will pass it. As far as the board and staff are concerned, we are done with it. We are not going to make changes on that short of notice.”
The budget is available to view at town hall.
“This is a good budget,” said Sutton. “We took care of our people and we’ve met our obligations. Some of the controversy last year with rate increases have proven to be the right thing to do.”
Positions have been filled on the Bryson City Police Department. There are eight police officers on staff. Bryson City Fire Department still has four paid firefighters on duty.
“We have to see what the county is going to provide to have assistance to add another one,” said Sutton. “We would like to add two more to do 24/7.”
Projects are on way in the town of Bryson include water upgrades and road work. The Advanced Meter Infrastructure system is being installed with loan approval from the North Carolina Local Government Commission.
“You’ll be able to go online to see your water usage on a daily basis,” said Sutton. “They’re more accurate.”
AMI meters read every data approximately every 30 minutes.
“This is about efficiency,” said Sam Pattillo, town manager. “As individual meters are detecting leaks, it minimizes the question of ‘Where is this leak?’ This new system will give us the ability, from Russel’s side to the customer’s side, to see the data system and help us make decisions, decrease water loss and be more efficient.”
As far as sidewalk maintenance is concerned, the mayor said repairs are being done as funding allows.
“The grant to do the water and sewer on Main Street, heading east from the square down to about the turn, was $600,000 and that was several years ago,” Sutton said. “The reason we are doing that is because the water and sewer has already been done.”
The mayor has repetitively said that the town’s 60 to 70-year-old water and sewer systems must be repaired before sidewalks. Otherwise, the town will have to dig them back up in the future.
The town has multiple grant applications in to re-do water and sewer.
Everett street is due to be paved this year.
“The state (NCDOT) has said they will be here by early fall,” Sutton said. “They will repair the sidewalks for us.”
The state opted to add a light at Everett and Depot streets within the past couple months.
“I was in on that,” said Sutton. “We have had complaints for as long as I can remember about traffic down there. Everybody wants to go to the stop sign, turn and go. Traffic signals work better than someone directing traffic. It is a big safety feature, like it or not.”
Mitchell Street was paved this week, from Slope to Everett streets.
The Carringer Street saga continues with work in progress.
“They’ve been down there close to a year,” said Sutton. “They got started and hit rock. They were replacing the sewer line. They had to bring in different equipment and that took about three weeks. They got back to work and Helene hit. They are from Asheville, so they disappeared for a while. Then, the contractor damaged a section of waterline and so they repaired it. That was a sweet deal for us.”
In other news, the town has restructured its staff to meet North Carolina Local Government Commission compliance.
“They didn’t like that we had the finance officer and town manager positions filled by the same person,” said Sutton. “We are not averse to changing our ways. If we have to do something different, we will.”
Carla Passmore was sworn in as finance officer to replace Pattillo this week.
“The tax collector and finance person can’t be the same person, so Jamie Hampton is now the tax collector. She was sworn in this week. It is going to make our operations more efficient.”
Next meeting
The next Town of Bryson City Board of Aldermen meeting is scheduled at Town Hall Tuesday, June 24 at 6 p.m.