CHRISTIANSBURG -- The first reading of the town's proposed $42.7 million budget brought a larger-than-usual crowd for the public hearing at Tuesday's town council meeting.

But only a few residents and business representatives actually spoke about recommended increases in water, sewer and garbage collection fees, building permit fees and taxes on business, professional and occupational licenses.

The new budget proposes an increase in the sewer and water rates that make up the town's enterprise fund. For years, the fees have not covered the cost of the services, and the town has had to pay the deficit with money from the general fund.

"It's not getting any cheaper to operate water, sewer and garbage," Town Manager Lance Terpenny said at a May 7 budget workshop meeting. "My recommendation would be that we increase the fees to cover the full deficit."

The fee changes would increase the average bimonthly bill from $94.80 to $108.60, based on an average monthly consumption of 6,000 gallons.

For the first time in many years, the council is considering an increase in the business license, or BPOL, taxes. The increase, based on the gross receipts of businesses that include retail stores, real estate companies, contractors, professionals and others operating within the town limits, is expected to generate an additional $580,000 in revenue, according to Assistant Town Manager Barry Helms.

Currently, retail stores pay a BPOL tax of 10 cents per $100 of gross receipts. With the proposed increase, that would go up to 15 cents. That's still less than the tax for retailers in Blacksburg, where the rate is the state maximum of 20 cents per $100. According to the city of Roanoke's Web site, Virginia ranks ninth in the country for the lowest business tax burden.

Councilman Dan Canada recommended the BPOL tax increase at the May 7 workshop, saying it was a better alternative to raising real estate taxes on residents who recently saw a big increase in Montgomery County's rates.

"I think our citizens would pay additional real estate tax if they felt the commercial sector was paying their fair share," Canada said.

At Tuesday's public hearing, two people spoke in opposition to the increase.

"I come before you to see if there's any other way besides these increases," said Larry Martin, owner of Haynes Backhoe Service. "I'm in the construction business. Everything I do next year is going to cost me more."

Nancy McDonald, representing her husband's dental practice, also expressed concern.

"We're already taxed quite a bit," she said. "From what I understand about these BPOL taxes, they're going up from 30 [percent] to 50 percent. That seems to be in excess. ... This is just a tax because we have a business. It seems that increasing it that much is unreasonable."

Shane Adams, president of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, also spoke about a memo he sent to chamber members on May 9, following the budget workshop.

The memo, headlined "Christiansburg businesses, your taxes are still going up! Be aware," was not intended to rile business owners, Adams told the council.

"The chamber of commerce is a private organization. Eight-five percent are small businesses," he said. "I asked those who wanted their voices to be heard to show up. We didn't tell them to speak in opposition. We didn't tell them to speak in support."

Councilman Mike Barber said after the meeting that consideration of raising the BPOL tax had not been proposed in the eight years he has served on the council. He said he heard nothing in the meeting that swayed his opinion about the budget.

"It's pretty well a budget we're going to act on," he said, noting that the council will vote next month, most likely on June 17.