City Manager tells District 4 residents to expect program cuts

City Manager Rashad Young confers with District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw before a community budget meeting in Lindley Park tonight.

Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young’s message to upwards of 50 people gathered at the District 4 community budget meeting at Lindley Recreation Center was clear tonight: “Everything is on the table.”

The city is facing a $9 million shortfall in the 2011-2012 budget. Anticipating deep cuts at the state level that have the potential to trickle down to the local level, council directed staff during a January retreat to cut even deeper — a spending reduction of $18 million — Young said. The council has also directed staff to produce a budget without a tax increase.

The city is required by state law to produce a balanced budget. Revenues are projected to drop from $254.9 million this fiscal year to $250.0 million in the next, Young said, while current-level expenditures are on track to increase to $259.0 million. The city is already $2 million in the hole this year because of disappointing property tax revenues.

“What is currently driving this decline in revenue is the lack of growth in property taxes,” Young said. Last year, the city projected 1 percent growth in the property tax base, but the current-year growth fell significantly short of expectations, so the city has revised its projection to 0 percent growth for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Additional demands on the spending side come from increases in fuel costs and increases in mandated state contribution to the retirement system, along with additional costs to operate Keeley Park, which is scheduled to open in northeast Greensboro in the next fiscal year, Young said.

The city manager’s declaration that all options for reducing the size of the budget are under consideration came with only one caveat.

“I will not accept or forward reductions in sworn police and fire fighter positions,” he said, adding that he could think of no other limitations.

Public safety, which comprises police, fire and emergency medical services, comprises 43 percent of spending from the general fund and makes up the largest slice of the city’s spending pie.

About a dozen Greensboro fire fighters stood outside the recreation center before the start of the meeting handing out fliers that urged support for continued investment in fire protection.

Dave Coker, president of Professional Fire Fighters of Greensboro Local 947, acknowledged the city manager’s pledge to spare sworn public safety positions, but expressed additional concerns.

“There are other ways that our service delivery can be impacted,” he said. “We would like to not see any reduction in existing fire companies and any reduction in staffing.”

Several comments from citizens revealed an urgent tenor of fiscal restraint.

“We are watching,” said Bob Skenes. “The turnout here is three times what it was last year. We’re going to continue to watch. I think libraries are wonderful. I think parks are wonderful. When you walk up to the door of your burned-out house, I’m not sure having that library down the street is going to do you much good. The rumors are flying, so leave public safety. Put your emphasis where you say you’re putting it. And let’s get some of those sacred cows. Let’s get White Street open. Let’s get our garbage back where it belongs. Let’s save some real money.”

Spurred by an interest in reducing the cost of waste disposal, the council is meeting tomorrow at 1 p.m. to interview five private vendors that are competing for a contract to handle the city’s solid waste, including three proposing to reopen the White Street Landfill in northeast Greensboro.

Some audience members pushed back against the notion that services unrelated to public safety are nonessential, and one woman asked the council to consider raising taxes to help Greensboro maintain a good quality of life.

“Cutting the nonprofits, cutting all the cultural assets in Greensboro would have a big impact on the quality of life here and also on the economic impact,” one unidentified man said. “Businesses are looking at relocating here — that’s one of the top things they look at — what’s going on culturally…. [The nonprofits] operate on shoestring budgets. The people that are employed there — none of them are making a lot of money.”

He turned to Skenes’ wife and said, “Aren’t you with Prudential…. I want you to sell some houses. I want you to sell a lot of houses.”

Young declined to name any particular programs staff might propose for cutting, saying it is too early in the process for that. He said his proposed budget will reflect three priorities articulated by council: public safety, infrastructure and economic development.

"We're about trying to provide the right environment for public investment," he said.

Each program will be evaluated to measure its success, Young said, adding that executive staff will look for programs to justify themselves with positive results across a range of areas. For example, parks and recreation programs will be judged on whether they reduce juvenile crime by providing diversion from wayward activities. The police and fire department's protect property investments. Planning and development staff will be expected to address boarded-up structures, which breed crime.

Laura Jackson, the District 4 representative for the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, brought up the city's loose-leaf collection program, and suggested a better alternative might be to encourage residents to mulch their leaves to fertilize their lawns. The program costs the city $600,000 per year.

"One leaves, we are not at this point including a recommendation to eliminate loose-leaf pickup," Young said. "We made that recommendation last year, and council determined that was something we would want to continue."

Last year, the city council backed off a proposal to eliminate funding for school crossing guards after Guilford County refused to pick up the tab. Young said tonight that the program, like all others, is up for discussion.

Considering that council has already committed to not raise property taxes, one revenue enhancement the council is pursuing is an effort to collect delinquent parking fines by seeking legislative action to prohibit people with outstanding fines from renewing their driver's licenses at the DMV.

On the spending side of the ledger, some residents suggested reducing the amount of bonds issued to shave off the cost of debt service. Projects up for financing in the next fiscal year include the aquatic center, the Natural Science Center and several roadway improvement initiatives including the widening of Horse Pen Creek Road. Young said the dollar amount of bonds planned for issuance next spring is calculated to keep the city's debt servicing costs even. He said the city could hypothetically reduce its spending on debt servicing — and with it bond spending — commensurately with overall reductions in the general fund, but "you'll take more off in projects than you'll save."

Others suggested cutting grants to nonprofits and the city's Minority & Women's Business Enterprise Program, along with delaying the opening of Keeley Park.

One woman proposed privatizing the coliseum, but Young countered that the amount of hotel receipts stimulated by big-ticket events more than offsets the city's subsidy of the enterprise.

The city's aggressive goal for spending cuts, coupled with the apparent dearth of expendable programs, increases pressure on the council to approve a plan to reopen the White Street Landfill before the new budget comes up for a vote this summer.

"And so the council, being very concerned about how the state is going to resolve their budget challenge, asked us to come back with recommendations to cut 7 percent from the general fund or $18 million in an effort to be very conservative about some of these revenue sources being reduced or taken away," he said. "So if we only plan for what we project and the state comes back and eliminates some portion of these funds, then we're back into a deficit situation and we're going to be making some immediate, drastic corrections. So they asked us to do that planning and analysis up front."