The Salem City Council gave its final approval Monday night to the city's $144 million budget, making it perhaps the last locality in the state to pass a spending plan for the year.

The council settled the matter in about a minute.

"There were no pay increases, no tax increases and relatively few fee increases," Finance Director Frank Turk said after the meeting, summarizing what had been a difficult budget to write.

As for the fees, the council raised the cost of building permits and recreational sports for nonresidents, as well as the charge for bouncing a check written to the city.

Asked to reflect on the year's budget as the council chambers emptied, City Manager Kevin Boggess said simply: "We do hope it gets easier next year."

Approval of the city budget was delayed by two weeks after a public hearing in May was not advertised and had to be postponed.

So began a tricky bit of scheduling. Virginia localities are mandated to adopt a budget before the fiscal year begins July 1. However, a resolution requires 10 days to take effect, meaning Monday's approval would have broken the deadline.

The council included an emergency clause Monday night that put the budget into effect immediately.

-- Pete Dybdahl