CHRISTIANSBURG -- Town council adopted on Tuesday a $36 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, including full funding to expand Blacksburg Transit bus service in town.

The vote was split 4-2, with Henry Showalter and Ernie Wade choosing to vote "no."

With weeks of debate among councilmen over, Blacksburg Transit officials said they will order buses this month and prepare for an October launch for the new service.

During the initial May 5 budget reading, a majority of council members said they needed more information about the bus service expansion before they could approve the budget.

According to a survey Blacksburg Transit had conducted late last year, 60 percent of respondents indicated interest in the system, with 27 percent saying they were "very likely" to use the new Christiansburg routes if they began this year and 33 percent saying they were "somewhat likely."

Currently, there are 11 routes in Blacksburg compared with one in Christiansburg that loops from the New River Valley Mall to the Montgomery County Government Center.

The budget allocates $163,000 to Blacksburg Transit for additional routes to be implemented.

Earlier this month, Wade said he would vote against the budget if the Blacksburg Transit money were included because the town needs to tighten its belt during the recession. Though he maintained his no vote, he said the town using more than $500,000 from its reserves, not Blacksburg Transit's expansion, was his main reason.

"I think before I could support a deficit budget I'd need to know how we're going to turn it around next year, and so far we don't have a plan for that," Wade said.

During a separate vote, the council unanimously approved water and sewer fee increases.

The water authority will increase rates by 7 cents per 1,000 gallons used; the solid waste authority is increasing its tipping fee $3 per ton.

The town also budgeted for new positions, including an IT technician, a school resource officer, a police dispatcher, a planner and an inspector trainee. In addition, $100,000 was budgeted for step increases for town employee salaries.

During an April 17 budget work session, Showalter spoke against using money from reserves to give raises for town employees because it could dig the town into a hole for years to come should the economy continue to worsen.

He also said that giving raises now could cause layoffs later, which the town has been able to avoid thus far. He maintained his stance Tuesday when voting against the budget.

"I don't believe that raises are justified to come out of the reserves for town employees. ... I can see the reserves paying for services like bus service or capital improvement, but we're not letting anybody go -- we're actually adding positions," he said.

Councilman Jim Vanhoozier disagreed, saying the town had an "inferred moral obligation" to give employees the raises they were promised upon hire.