Mayoral politics crop up during District 1 budget meeting

Mayor Bill Knight (left) considers a request for a meeting with District 1 residents at Brown Recreation Center today. Also pictured: District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins.

A community budget meeting for District 1 in Greensboro today turned into a public challenge to Mayor Bill Knight and a campaign stop for his mayoral challenger, at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins.

District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small summoned Knight and Perkins to the front of the assembly in a basketball gymnasium at Brown Recreation Center

"Mayor Knight: District 1," Bellamy-Small said, as if making an introduction, before asking the mayor if he would meet with her constituents.

“We can certainly look at it,” Knight told the crowd of upwards of 50 people. “Sure can,” adding that he had mostly planned on listening today.

Knight defeated incumbent Mayor Yvonne Johnson in 2009, in part, by appealing to conservative voters in the newly annexed Cardinal area and won his election without significant support from black voters in east Greensboro.

Following brief remarks, the mayor departed for an unspecified engagement. During the question-and-answer portion, some residents had asked why none of the three at-large members of council were present to hear their concerns. Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan has said she is not seeking reelection. At-large Councilman Danny Thompson attended a District 4 community budget meeting in west Greensboro on Monday, but was a no-show today. Perkins came in near the end of the meeting today.

Perkins praised Bellamy-Small, a political ally.

“Dianne is a constant advocate for what you need in this part of Greensboro,” Perkins said. “And she has continually worked for economic development, for infrastructure in order to get that economic development and those jobs in this part of the city. And she has the vision and the persistence to stay to the plan.

Perkins has said he plans to run for mayor, challenging Knight.Filing for city council races begins in July.

"We're talking about serious business in the city of Greensboro because the manager's talking about what he has to cut," Perkins said. "But in order for us to retain the quality of life that we have enjoyed, we've got to grow this tax base and we've got to grow jobs. If we don't do that we're going to have to continue to cut the level of services that we provide."

The city is facing a $9 million budget shortfall this year, but City Manager Rashad Young has said the city plans to cut a total of $18 million in anticipation of reduced state funding as North Carolina stares down the barrel of a $2 billion shortfall. A majority of the city council told Young in January to not even consider recommending a tax rate increase.

More than one person in the District 1 meeting questioned that judgment.

"Raise taxes," Randy Scott told Perkins. "Raise 'em. I'm serious.... If you're gonna get a whuppin', get a whuppin'."

Perkins said he and Bellamy-Small have been on the losing side of many decisions over the past year.

"We ain't got five votes," Perkins said. "We're not going to raise taxes."

Bellamy-Small used the closing portion of the meeting to outline her agenda, highlighting matters only loosely related to this years budget.

“In District 1 we have gotten more capital improvement projects in the last 10 years than any district," Bellamy-Small said. "I feel good that for at least seven of those 10 years, y’all know who’s been there.”

The councilwoman said garnered applause after expressing her support for maintaining satellite early voting sites for this year's municipal election. A man who introduced himself as the chief judge for Precinct G73 said he had a group of people who would volunteer to staff a site in District 1 for free. Without taking a vote, the council had previously decided to eliminate the satellite early voting sites, but decided to give the matter more consideration after some members raised objections. Bellamy-Small urged her constituents today to "blow up the council's phones. The city manager wants me to be politically correct, but that hard for me."

Bellamy-Small also urged constituents to become engaged with the city council's redistricting process. Many of the councilwoman's supporters, including Perkins, have advocated that the lines be redrawn to place a larger portion of downtown in District 1, but Bellamy-Small indicated today she would prefer to retain the current map. The consensus at a public input meeting hosted by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress earlier this month also supported that approach.

City Manager Rashad Young has been reluctant to signal where potential spending cuts might occur to reduce the budget by $18 million, and most of the questions from residents today did not address either potential areas for savings or the preservation of desired programs.

The council is scheduled to vote on a plan to handle the city's solid waste before approving next year's budget, but Young said, "Any savings that could be achieved by reopening the landfill is not factored in our budget."

Private companies have pledged to save the city as much as $7.2 million per year by opening the landfill, and staff has estimated that savings in the range of $3.5 to $5.3 million might be realized if the city were to reopen the landfill and operate it with public employees. Young said after today's meeting that if the council votes to reopen the landfill, some of the money will go into the city's general fund to pay for tipping fees, and some will go into a solid waste enterprise fund.

Neighborhood leader Patricia Alexander asked the city of prioritize funding for Heath Park. The city has allocated $100,000 out of $35 million in municipal bonds planned for sale in the next 18 months for neighborhood park renovations. Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson said the parks commission will be prioritizing the projects.

George Hartzman asked about the cost of implementing the Jordan Lake Rules, a state mandate to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous inputs in the Haw River watershed. Young said the city plans to spend money from a water enterprise fund to begin preliminary design of a nitrogen filtration system. The city is lobbying the NC General Assembly for a delay in implementation of the rules from 2016 to 2020. If the state doesn't grant the request, Young said the bulk of the costs will likely hit the city in 2013. He added that the bulk of the funds will probably have to be borrowed. The city currently has a backlog of $158 million in voter-approved projects that has been authorized but not currently borrowed, Young said.

The Rev. Nelson Johnson of the Beloved Community Center asked Young whether the council was deliberately dragging its feet on approving implementation of a federal grant for residential and commercial weatherization so that it could run out the clock and force the city to return the money.

"There's not been a warm welcome to this grant," Johnson said.

Charles Cherry, a former Greensboro police captain who was fired last fall after accusing the department of discrimination and retaliation, requested that the city post a "flow chart" on its website showing the amount of money paid out in settlements and spent on legal fees, along with the number of lawsuits filed against the city.

"You getting ready to have some more," Cherry added, almost as an aside.