From staff and press reports

The Louisville Board of Aldermen on Aug. 10 voted to increase the fees the city charges the Louisville Municipal School District for tax collection.

The city previously charged the school district a flat rate of $32,000 per year for tax collection, compared to the 5 percent Winston County charges to collect the county part of the taxes. With the changes, the city will now charge 4.25 percent on the school taxes in the city collected for the school district, raising the cost for the district to an estimated $58,000.

"I can't see any justification for charging less than the county does. This is not a tax increase for us," said Giles Ward, alderman at large.

"We are not going to have to raise taxes of any kind," agreed Ward 1 Alderman Daniel "Moe" Yarbrough. "This is an increase in a user's fee."

The board voted 2-2 on the increase, with Mayor Louis Taunton casting the deciding vote.

Yarbrough, Ward and Taunton voted for the fee increase, while Ward 2 Alderwoman Judy McLeod and Ward 3 Alderwoman Bessie Love voted against the increase. Ward 4 Alderman Eugene Crosby was absent from the meeting.

The board members also continued with other parts of the city's budgeting process, reviewing the proposed budget and looking for areas to pare down. The budget for 2005 was projected to have $3,760,730 in receipts and $4,710,715 in expenses.

The board reviewed expenses and revenues for the departments and questioned several possible area of savings in the budget.

After the review, the board requested each department supervisor take a look at department operations and find ways to decrease the amount of money the department would need in the upcoming fiscal year. The board noted that they were trying to cut the expenses down to meet revenues.