Hamlet town employees will not get a pay raise in 2022, under the town’s budget proposal. Clerk-Treasurer Kristina Pitts told the town council last month that it just isn’t feasible.
“We did all get three percent this year,” she noted. “I mean, granted, I would love to have a raise, don’t get me wrong. But I just couldn’t feasibly put a raise in there for anybody to just cut everything else out, just to make sure we got a raise.”
The proposed budget totals just over $451,000. Compared to this year’s, Pitts said the General Fund was cut by about $2,000, while the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund was cut by about $4,000. However, the Park budget went up by about $1,200, and the reestablishment of the Cumulative Capital Development Fund resulted in an increase of about $2,000.
Pitts’ major concern was the Economic Development Income Tax Fund. She’s budgeted $50,000, but more significant cuts could be coming, as a delayed result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That could make it harder for Hamlet to fund things like street and sidewalk projects.
No comments were offered from the public during the required hearing. The 2022 budget will officially be up for adoption on October 27.
