Martinsville's City Manager presented a budget to Martinsville City Council that calls for customers to pay more for water and electricity in fiscal 2011. Tax rates would be unchanged.

Under the proposed budget, homes and businesses in the city will pay about 17% more for water,and non-residents who purchase water from the city will pay 2.6% more. Electricity customers would pay $6.80 more per 1,000 kilowatt hours, raising their rates from from $98.80 to $105.60, per 1,000 kilowatt hours. All told, an average city household would pay $10.19 more for utility services per month.

The budget proposal includes $5,826,394 for the city schools -- $612,857 less than the schools were given for the current fiscal year and $1.1 million less than they requested for fiscal 2011.

Read more in the Martinsville Bulletin....