The Fourth of July won’t be the same this year in Union.

Members of the Union City Council on Monday agreed to cut funding for the community’s annual Fourth of July celebration in their continued efforts to balance an extremely tight fiscal year 2010-11 budget.

Funds for Public Safety Day also will be cut from the city’s community services fund and instead of forcing officers with the Union Public Safety Department to take unpaid furlough days the city proposes to no longer offer funeral blocks, stop unlocking car doors except in the event of an emergency and will institute a $6 fee — the same as the Union County Sheriff’s Department — for all criminal records reports.

These decisions — and several others — are viewed as necessary for the city to stay within the confines of an FY 2011 budget that is proposed to come in still about $100,000 short — or less than 1 percent — of expected expenditures.

Council spent nearly an entire work week going through funding requests from city departments and outside agencies and learning of the fiscal situation the city faces in the next budget year as revenues continue to decline.

What city finance director Walker Gallman and other city department heads brought to the table Monday was an even more trim budget proposal as each department spent the last couple weeks trying to chop about 5 percent from their original proposals. Council members also cut nearly all other requests by that 5 percent figure.

The city was eyeing a total FY 2011 budget of $43,858,140 at the end of council’s initial budget work sessions the week of March 22-26. With additional trimming, Gallman brought council members a proposal for a total fiscal year 2010-11 budget of $42,912,140.

That figure includes a 4 percent cut in the city’s general fund, a 5 percent cut in the solid waste management fund and just a 1 percent increase in the combined utility fund. That total budget number was before the council decided to cut funding for those items above but compared to the original proposal the budget now looks to have less than a 1 percent increase overall compared to the 2 percent increase originally proposed.

The increase is due to several factors, most of which are largely outside the city’s control, including an anticipated 9.5 percent increase in health insurance costs expected to take effect Jan. 1, 2011, and a 6 percent increase in the city’s purchased power cost.

Gallman reiterated Monday morning the city’s budgets always have been conservative and it has been fortunate in years past as expenditures have been somewhat less than forecasted and revenues have been somewhat above projections.

This year, however, “is a different tale,” the finance director said.

So council spent just more than three hours going through the city’s budget and looking at where departments had slashed even further and all other options to cut costs where available.

The general fund — even with the additional cuts — still is $185,800 short of what’s needed. To balance that fund, council members agreed to move forward on instituting a citywide 1 percent hospitality tax, which council agreed to keep under the city’s authority instead of allowing the county to collect those funds as originally discussed. The remaining shortage will be funded from the city’s fund balance.

“Hopefully, our expenditures will come in a little lower and our revenues will be a little higher so we won’t have to dip into the fund balance as much,” Gallman said.

The solid waste management budget remains just shy of $200,000 short despite the additional cuts but council agreed to continue transfer of $130,000 from the general fund, increase the garbage collection fee by $1 to generate $49,000 and cover the remaining balance with the prior year’s retained earnings to balance that fund.

The city also will move forward with leasing a new brush collection truck instead of purchasing a new vehicle which will result in some savings.

The utility fund still is just more than $2 million shy of what it will need next fiscal year to cover projected expenditures after additional cuts were made so rate increases look to be unescapable.

The council agreed to move ahead with increasing the city’s water and sewer rates by 9.5 percent each for the next fiscal year. Electric rates and natural gas rates will remain the same but the city will continue its PPA and PGA programs to get those more in line with where they need to be. There also looks to be a 5 percent increase in the city’s security light rate.

The water and sewer rate increases — based on residential customers using 6,000 gallons per month — will increase $2.82 inside city limits and $4.26 for customers outside the city. Those increases will generate an additional $265,000 per year in revenue.

Council members agreed to also look at several other options Gallman originally suggested to save additional money. They include:

• Authorizing the mayor to look at alternative work schedules at city hall to become more efficient and provide better customer service.

• Continuing to keep a close eye on fuel costs and cutting wherever and whenever possible with a goal to cut usage by 10 percent.

• Evaluate all city vehicles and equipment before they are replaced and taking those replaced out of service.

• Evaluating each vacant city position before hiring someone to fill it to determine the need.

• Possibly combining building inspection departments with the county.

• Authorizing city staff to continue the process of closing the Meng Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and applying for a state revolving loan.

No salary increases are proposed and Gallman added the utility department will lose one full-time wastewater treatment operator in the next fiscal year and plans to hire a part-time operator to basically work weekends and save the city on overtime pay. There also is no cost of living increase proposed.

Council members also would like to see some bids on employee healthcare coverage to have an idea of how other insurance providers compare in cost to the current projected costs of providing coverage after Jan. 1 of next year when the 9.5 percent increase will take place.

Council also discussed several other changes to the fiscal year 2010-11 budget, including the addition of a phone system operator at city hall that will allow residents to call one phone number to reach the city offices and then be directed from there and the purchase of new radios for the utility department in accordance with a federal mandate saying all two-way radios must be on narrow band by Jan. 1, 2013.