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Walkersville residents will see a tax increase in fiscal 2012.

Town commissioners adopted a balanced general fund budget for fiscal 2012 based on a 17 cent tax rate at Wednesday night's town meeting.

Town manager Gloria Rollins said that the rate had been set at 15.6 cents for at least two years.

Although the constant yield rate was set to 19.38 cents by the state, commissioners weren't in favor of raising the rate by that much.

A constant yield tax rate is the amount that the state deems a municipality must charge in order to collect the same amount of tax revenues it did in the previous fiscal year. The number is based on the assessed value of homes within the town's taxable boundary, which usually fluctuates each year.

Commissioner Chad Weddle said previously he is not concerned about keeping the rate below the constant yield rate, because the town doesn't often spend as much as the budget predicts it will at the beginning of the fiscal year.

The predicted revenue for the town is $2.35 million, compared to $2.25 million last year.

A large increase in expected revenue will come from state highway user fees. The state highway user fund allocates money for road improvements across the state and is comprised of gas taxes, car sales taxes and vehicle registration fees.

The town only received about $17,300 from the fund in fiscal year 2011, as of May 17. The municipality budget documents for fiscal year 2012 predict that it will receive more than $72,000.

Emmitsburg and Thurmont also expect more money from the highway user fund in the coming fiscal year.

The budget documents show that Walkersville expects about $135,000 less property tax income than the town got last year.

About $124,598 is expected to be taken out of town coffers and included in the general fund in order to balance the budget.

At the meeting, commissioners also voted to adjust town staff salary increases, based on evaluations, to a maximum of 2.5 percent, Rollins said.

The town's water fund budget is balanced at $1.04 million. The water budget is self-contained, meaning it is funded mostly by the water usage fees and not from resident taxes.

cpomeroy@gazette.net