The Toms Brook Town Council is relying on a heftier cigarette tax to help it balance the proposed 2024-2025 budget.

The council, who hashed out the budget on April 11 during it regular meeting, found that the cigarette tax, priced at 25 cents per pack last year, brought in $10,000 less in the 2023-2024 budget than the year before due to a decrease in sales.

That lost revenue was a primary reason for the $20,000 deficit the council needed to balance last week.

After an hour-and-a-half-long discussion, the council settled on increasing the cigarette tax to balance the budget from 25 cents per pack to 40 cents in the next fiscal year.

The increase will not result in much new revenue for the town. The projected revenue for the increased cigarette tax is $32,000, only $2,000 above what was budgeted last year.

For the most part, Tom Brooks’s budget this year is slightly leaner than last year. Total expenses are down $180 for the town this year, from $104,890 to $104,710. The town found cost savings in town maintenance (cutting $2,120 in costs), trash pick-up (with $5,600 less in spending allocated) and printing (which saw a reduction from $5,000 to $2,000).

“Alright, kids, we have $44 to spend,” Mayor Lisa Currie said to council members as they wrapped up the budget, looking at the town’s net income for the next fiscal year.

The town’s income last year was $2,510 in the hole.

Outside of the increase in cigarette tax, residents will see little change resulting from the proposed budget.

“The proposed budget does not increase real estate or personal property taxes for residents, does not provide raises for staff, or decrease services to the residents,” Currie stated to The Northern Virginia Daily following the meeting.

The public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 9 at the Toms Brook School Apartments gymnasium, at 3232 S. Main St.

Website

There are new expenses within the budget. Funds have been allocated to develop a new town website, and the town is contracting with CivicPlus.

“It is time for us to move to the 21st century,” Currie told the council as she introduced the topic.

According to a report given to the council by town intern Tom Neale, the website will serve as an information hub for residents and promote community engagement, tourism, and economic development.

The website will also provide more services to residents, digitizing town documents and forms, making it easier for residents to pay bills, apply for permits, renew licenses and complete other tasks.

Neale said the plan is for the website to have around six tabs. The current tabs planned are an “About Us” tab, a services tab, a tourism tab, a community tab, an online bill pay tab and a tab linking to contact information.

The website will also connect to other local agencies, such as public works, police and fire departments.

The website is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months.

Currie said the town was conscientious about selecting the most affordable option for the website’s development.

“The premium has many more features and options, but you have to pay for those features and options,” Currie said. “We didn’t even explore that because they said as we add these features, we add expense, and we were looking at the cheapest option.”

The town has allocated $3,205 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to develop the website. An additional $2,695 has been added to the town’s expenses to cover an annual subscription cost.