After two public hearings, members of the Farmville Town Council voted to approve the distribution of surplus from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018 budget to the FY 2018-2019 budget and to approve an ordinance concerning the town’s role in addressing vegetation in public alleys, unimproved streets and other unimproved rights of way.

No members of the public spoke during the hearings.

A previous Herald report cited that the council voted to approve the FY 2018-2019 budget June 22 and determined June 30 that the previous year’s budget, FY 2017-2018 had a surplus of $747,383.09 that could be carried over into the recently-adopted 2018-2019 budget.

The 2018-2019 FY budget totaled $27,871,389.71. The surplus would result in the FY 2018-2019 budget totaling $28,618,772.80.

The more than $747,000 surplus is proposed to be distributed through several allocations, including $489,847.41 added to the general fund, $21,379.49 added to the water fund, $111,286.45 added to the sewer fund and $124,869.74 added to the transportation fund.

The ordinance, according the council meeting board packet, states that the town would not be required to “cut and/or remove weeds, brush, plants, grass or other vegetation growing in the public alleys, unimproved streets and other unimproved rights of way,” unless weeds located in the town are in excess of 10 inches in height.

According to the town code, weeds more than 10 inches tall “are found to be a danger to the public health and are hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance.”

The ordinance continues that the town would take similar action to remove or prune any trees or tree limbs that are found to pose similar threats.

“Any adjacent property owner, tenant or citizen, at their own expense, may cut and/or remove any weeds, brush, plants, grass or other vegetation growing in the public alleys, unimproved streets and other unimproved rights of way and in the unimproved portion of the public right of way lying between any public property and private property lines,” the ordinance cited. “No person shall cut and remove or prune any tree growing in the public right of way without first obtaining a permit from the office of the Town Manager.”

The ordinance cites Section 27-17 of the town code, which states that “no person shall plant, spray, fertilize, preserve, prune, remove, cut above ground, or otherwise disturb any tree on any street or town owned property without first filing an application and procuring a permit from the office of the Town Manager.