APEX - The Town Council last week approved a budget for 2011 that will maintain little else besides the status quo in Apex in the coming year.

Council members adopted a $65.6 million financial plan. The budget makes few guarantees to town employees or residents but does promise to hold the line on Apex's property tax rate of 34 cents per $100 valuation.

"This is a static budget," said Mike Wilson, assistant town manager in Apex.

One could argue, as town manager Bruce Radford did in his budget message delivered to the council last month, that Apex will in some ways experience a shrinking budget in the upcoming fiscal term that begins July 1.

The town's general fund, at $28.7 million, will on the surface grow by 0.003 percent. But in passing the budget last week, the council agreed to withdraw $419,000 from Apex's savings account to pay for seven capital projects.

They include replacing the town's phone system, purchasing equipment to collect yard waste and equipping the fire department with two portable defibrillators.

The idea to cut into Apex's savings is a sign of how the recession has impacted the town. The downturn has resulted in a net decline in the town's general fund revenues for the second consecutive year, Radford wrote to council members.

As in other Triangle towns, a slump in consumer spending has curtailed revenues from local sales taxes. Town officials also estimate that Apex's investment earnings could be cut in half in the coming fiscal year. And income generated from building and development fees and other service fees remains stagnant.

Fewer dollars will mean Apex will see few tangible changes in the coming fiscal term. The town will not fill any of the eight new positions requested by department heads. Nor will the town fund an additional $862,184 in capital projects, including replacement vehicles for at least four departments and ice guards at Town Hall.

Residents and current town employees will also feel the pinch. A salary freeze for the upcoming fiscal year means no cost-of-living adjustment or merit-based raises for Apex's 316-member staff.

Residents, meanwhile, will see a 7 percent increase in water and sewer rates. The increase is necessary to fund a state-mandated wastewater plant. Garbage, recycling and yard waste fees also will rise by 2.6 percent.