Tuesday a special budget meeting was held at my request last week. As many of you know, I have been pushing for a more transparent budget process for the last few years and I’m pleased to say progress has been made but we’re not fully there yet. Thanks to all that supported this. Below is a summary.
Budget Meeting History
· 4/3/24 Council received their first copy of the budget and reviewed the same night. We got over halfway through.
· 4/17/24 council went through the rest of the budget.
· 5/1/24 budget meeting was canceled due to power outage.
· 5/17/24 we had a public hearing where numerous citizens wrote in or spoke against the tax increase. Water/ Sewer rates were increased by $24.50 a quarter.
· 6/5/24 at councils work session, more people spoke including 50+ business owner testimonies.
· At the 6/5 meeting, I suggested we have a special meeting on 6/11 to go over potential cuts.
Tuesday’s meeting - June 11th
· Our first real opportunity to provide real suggestions for spending cuts.
· The mayor decided to try what at first seemed to me like some sort of budget game.
· A large bulletin board was placed in front of council.
· We were given sticky notes and stickers and asked to write down budget cut ideas.
· The town manager gave a brief update and provided the contract services numbers I asked for. At first, we were read names of companies and I said my request was for actual numbers.
· We were told the town manager’s budget was still $453k in the hole.
· I asked for clarification and the Mayor said this was to provide ideas and directions to give the town manager.
· After 30 minutes we finished providing suggestions and adding stickers. The Mayor then went one at a time to see what items the majority of council supported.
· It’s just my opinion but something seemed a bit off with this meeting format.
Some of the Suggested cuts
· Combine the Assistant Town Manager and Grant Writer positions. All supported except me (I said cut both). Did not pass in the end.
· Reduce Parks and Rec budget by $20k everyone supported except Wood.
· Remove economic development façade grant $20K previously already cut.
· Eliminate PnR maintenance person, all except Roberson supported this $9k cut.
· Fund one-time items like new audio video and parking meter with freed up ARPA funds of $31k (all supported)
· Cut $50k from planning budget (all supported)
· Cut Town clerk yearly software subscription $14k (all supported)
· Fund grant writing by contract for $25k vs a full time $90k employee (all supported)
· I suggested cutting $69k 3 reverse interns and we were told how important they were and the majority of council did not support.
· Cut contract services by 10% where possible (my suggestion and all supported.
End Result
In the end, it looked like there was going to be a tax increase due to insufficient cuts (roughly $195k of the $453k needed) The increase in meals and lodging tax may still end up being 1 to 2%. I made a motion to send the budget back to the town manager for her to balance the budget with a $0.00 increase by making additional cuts. Dr. Self Sullivan seconded my motion. Kenny Allison and Krista Brown did not support the motion and said that we should have come forward with additional cuts to balance the budget. First off in my opinion we were presented with an overinflated budget in April so it’s only fair to have the town manager find ways to make additional cuts. Also, I was prepared to suggest cuts a month ago but the mayor postponed discussions. I believe some of my fellow Councilmembers may have thought cuts were not necessary but all the citizens speaking at the budget hearing changed that. The motion directing the town manager to provide a balanced budget with no additional tax increases failed 2-5 with myself and Caryn Sullivan voting YES
The reason I originally called for a special meeting was to see if council could suggest enough cuts to balance the budget with a 0% increase but in the end we fell short which is why I made a motion for the town manager to rework the budget.
The final outcome was council directed the town manager to make the suggested cuts in the budget with a tax increase. Supporters were Krista Brown, Kenny Allison, Vicki Roberson, Rick Wood, and Robin Schick.
I need to clarify some misleading information that has been posted online. Councilwoman Self Sullivan and I did vote to balance the budget. The difference between what we voted for and what the rest of council voted for is they included a tax increase in their balanced budget.
Comments