Senoia City Administrator Richard Ferry is busy crunching the numbers for his first budget cycle.

Ferry said he’s gotten back preliminary numbers from his department heads that would reflect a 2006 budget of $3.2 million. Last year’s budget was just over $2 million, but Ferry said he’s just starting to dig into the meat of this year’s requests.

“There will be a lot of cutting before this is presented to the City Council,” he said.

Nearly $800,000 of the increase comes from new city wells and a water tower in the Heritage Pointe subdivision, but Ferry said those items are being funded through a Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority loan.

So far, Ferry is still trying to determine the needs of the various city departments. But he said he know one area that will dramatically rise this year.

“Our fuel costs will be way above last year’s. We’re still trying to estimate what they will be,” he said.

With the city’s dramatic growth this decade, Ferry said it’s only understandable that the budget increases.

“We’re having to provide more services, but we’re going to be able to accomplish that without a tax hike,” he said.

Ferry expects to present a preliminary budget to the City Council Nov. 7, and final passage is expected at the Dec. 5 meeting.

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