Hickory City Manager Warren Wood delivered his Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 Recommended Budget to the Hickory City Council at Tuesday’s (May 17) meeting. The Recommended Budget totals $126,206,168 for all City operations, capital improvements, and debt service requirements for the upcoming year. This represents an 8.9 percent increase over the current year’s budget.

A budget of $63,141,435 is recommended, which represents a 7 percent increase over the current year’s budget. The property tax rate for FY2022-2023 is recommended to remain 62.75 cents per $100 of assessed value. A new property tax rate is anticipated with the FY2023-2024 annual budget due to the County-wide revaluation of property that will take effect during that fiscal year. Significant increases in property values are expected in Catawba County’s next revaluation, which will likely result in a reduction of Hickory’s current property tax rate.

Water and Sewer Fund: A 3 percent increase in utility rates is recommended to maintain infrastructure and the enterprise fund’s self-sufficiency, while still maintaining a competitive rate when compared to systems across the state. The average utility bill for a Hickory customer is $57.68; this rate increase will result in an increase of $1.73 per month on the average utility bill.

Solid Waste Fund: An increase of $1.00 is recommended to bring the monthly sanitation rate up to $26.00 per month for the upcoming fiscal year. The Solid Waste Fund is self-supporting, and this increase will help to offset increases in fuel and labor costs.

The full FY2022-2023 Recommended Budget is available for review online at https://www.hickorync.gov/budget. The Hickory City Council welcomes public input and will hold a public hearing on the FY2022-2023 Recommended Budget on Tuesday, June 7, at 7 p.m., during its regular City Council meeting at the Julian G. Whitener Municipal Building.

[News release from the City of Hickory]