CHARLESTON, SC – Under North Charleston City Council's tight budget year, the $82.2 million spending plan for 2009-2010 includes no tax increases or layoffs or furloughs of city staff. But the budget also does not  include employee pay increases or money for new equipment. That means no new city vehicles will be purchased, according to The Post and Courier.

Officials hope to keep the city's fleet going by padding the maintenance department budget by $200,000.

In his annual budget message, Mayor Keith Summey said this year's buget is about the tightest he'd been connected with in 22 years of public service, according to The Post and Courier.

"This year we'll have to make do with what we've got," he said in a meeting room at the North Charleston Coliseum after addressing the clampdown on vehicle purchases.

The only anticipated staff additions are for the Fire Department, where eight positions will be filled with help from the cuts in the city's health plan offering. The move helped free up about $400,000. The firefighters aren't new hires but represent existing positions that had been frozen.

Official passage of the budget will come later in the spring, reported The Post and Courier.