City Manager Mitchell Johnson's fiscal year 2006-07 spending plan for Greensboro would add $78.75 to the tax bill for the owner of a $150,000 home.

Reserve money is being used to reduce the potential tax increase, Johnson said. That isn't something the city would want to do every year, he said, "but sometimes you have a rainy day, and that's what we're having."

Johnson's proposed $385 million budget -- up 10 percent over the 2005-06 budget -- is a starting point for discussion among City Council members, who have final say.

The council must enact a budget before July 1, the start of the next fiscal year. Along with the possible tax increase, water and sewer rates are also proposed to increase 8 percent.

Without a tax increase, Johnson said city revenue would grow only 2 percent next year. He said that wouldn't be enough to maintain current services.

l 1.15 cents for the opening of a trash-transfer station. The tax impact of the transfer station was initially estimated at 2 cents; money from a solid waste reserve fund is being used to offset the cost. The city will take the first year of operation to see if there are ways to run the transfer station more efficiently.

l 1 cent for staffing and operating Greensboro's two newest fire stations, lighting and other improvements to several city parking decks, improvements to Barber Park and ongoing costs for Center City Park.

l 1.5 cents for paying for higher fuel and energy costs, higher health insurance and other benefit costs, and salary increases for public safety workers -- police, fire and 911 dispatchers -- to bring their pay in line with the market rate for people in their fields.

That included the 39 new officers interim police Chief Tim Bellamy sought. However, five word-processing positions in the police department are being converted into a new detective and three crime scene investigators.

After Johnston's presentation, the council heard from members of a Greensboro Transit Authority task force, which has spent the past couple of months wrestling with how to keep drawing riders and expanding services while dealing with spiraling costs, especially for fuel and Specialized Community Area Transportation bus service.

The task force recommended a 1.5-cent tax increase, plus an annual 10-cent increase for GTA bus service over the next three years -- eventually bumping the base fare to $1.30. It would increase 20 cents annually over three years to $2.60 per trip.

The average cost of providing SCAT service is $25 to $34 per trip, said Councilwoman Florence Gatten, who is part of the task force. Money generated by the fare and tax increases would eliminate a 2005-06 GTA budget shortfall along with a projected shortfall in 2006-07. The money would also allow GTA to add services, including 30-minute bus service weekdays on all GTA routes and create a South-Town Connector that would allow riders to travel in south Greensboro without having to change buses at the Depot downtown.

Several SCAT riders criticized the proposal to eliminate the unlimited monthly ride pass, fearing it would make the service unaffordable for riders on fixed incomes. Speakers did say they were willing to see a small, graduated increase in the cost of the unlimited ride pass.

The council will next discuss the budget during its monthly briefing session at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. It will hold a public hearing on the budget June 6 and will likely approve it June 20.

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