Fire service and school crossing guards among concerns in District 5 budget meeting

Councilwoman Trudy Wade and City Manager Rashad Young

Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young told about 20 people gathered at the Trotter Recreation Center for a District 5 community budget meeting tonight that he will likely recommend that the council cut $12 million to $13 million.

The range of possible cuts goes from $9 million to $18 million, and the possibility of the NC General Assembly balancing its $2 billion shortfall by cutting funding to cities creates a giant question mark for Greensboro, which, like all municipalities, is statutorily required to pass a balanced budget by July 1.

Young has made presentations in the city’s other four districts already, and tonight’s audience had the benefit of getting the details of his three-tiered budget cuts, which were presented to council on April 19. A second District 5 meeting for the northern portion of Councilwoman Trudy Wade’s district will be held on May 12 at the Oak Ridge Meadows Club House.

Many of the details of tonight’s presentation were familiar: Based on the direction of council, Young will not entertain the possibility of a property tax increase. Property tax revenue for the next budget year is projected to be flat. Keeley Park in northeast Greensboro comes online next year and will require an additional $320,000 to operate. Also, the city estimates that utility rate increases will incur another $267,000.

Many of the first-tier cuts, which would save an estimated $9 million, involve delaying maintenance of vehicles, letting supplies of materials such as asphalt and garbage cans draw down and eliminating positions — some filled, other vacant. And in the case of the parks and recreation department, Young said the city is considering contracting out maintenance and cleaning services to save money.

The proposed cut that raised the most concern in the city manager’s first slice at the budget is an item related to reducing contracted services with outside fire districts. One of those districts if the Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Department, whose Mackey Road station is located outside of the city’s corporate limit but is the closest to the Adams Farm neighborhood.

Young said the reduction would eliminate a backup position for a person to cover a regularly scheduled firefighter who is out on sick leave. The city funds three positions for the Pinecroft-Sedgefield Fire Department.

"In structure fire cases, we have to assemble 15 people to fight a fully engaged structure fire,” Young said. “And so the reduction that we make is in that buffer. What that consequence will be is that on some days instead of three, we may have two people there on that engine. However, if there is a fire response, Greensboro’s coming anyway because you can’t fight a fire with three people.”

The Adams Farm area is not the only one affected by the reduction. Young said the city also plans to reduce contracted services with outside fire districts in the Colfax area past the airport and in northeast Greensboro.

More questions came with Young’s presentation on Tier 2 cuts, which result in an additional $4 million in savings.

Under this scenario, the city would close the Folk Teen Center, with savings coming from the elimination of two part-time, three seasonal and six roster positions.

Asked to justify the cut, Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson said, “The teens were not coming there.”

Young added that the area is sparsely populated and there is not an adjacent neighborhood with a large population of children, so the location is not convenient. He said the teen programming would continue at other locations.

The city would also defer replacement of firefighters’ uniforms except in critical cases in which they are torn or contaminated. The practice of hiring back retired police to assist in investigations would be scaled back.

District 5 resident Gail Stroud asked Young how public safety might be affected by reducing hirebacks.

“We’re giving them more responsibility and they have more work to do,” the city manager said, indicating full-time sworn officers will have to pick up the slack.

Under Tier 3, Young singled out a measure to take fire Ladder Company 49 on Friendly Avenue out of service and reassign firefighters to a nearby station.

“This is one that’s probably the most difficult here,” Young said.

The city is also considering eliminating half of its school crossing guards. Last year, Young proposed eliminating the program altogether and met with Guilford County Schools Superintendent Mo Green to see if the district would take responsibility for the program. The district didn’t and the city council ended up blinking in the standoff and restoring the cuts. One of the schools affected by the proposed cuts this year is Pilot Elementary in Adams Farm.

Tony Wilkins, a District 5 resident who is running for city council at large this year, asked if there would be a liability problem with using volunteers as crossing guards.

“That might be something we would explore,” Young responded.

At least one resident indicated she concurs with the council’s directive to not balance the budget by raising taxes. She implored Young to tell the council: “There are people who have actually sold their cars to pay their property taxes. And that’s a reality a lot of people don’t understand.”

Councilwoman Wade was sitting directly behind her.

“We understand that,” she said.

Wade asked Young how much the city might save by putting its municipal solid waste in the White Street Landfill instead of shipping it out of the county. The council indicated by a straw poll earlier this week that it favors narrowing its list of contenders for a contract to handle the city’s solid waste to three companies that have proposed to reopen the landfill.

“If White Street receives all our municipal solid waste, [savings] could range anywhere from $4 million to $8 million,” Young said.

Stroud urged city leaders to look for some long-term strategies to save taxpayers money. She was only one of a number of residents who questioned whether the coliseum should be privatized considering that it operates at a loss every year.

Wade said many of her constituents feel the same, and argued that the positive impact the coliseum has as an economic generator could also be realized if it was in public hands.

At-large Councilman Danny Thompson offered a spirited argument in favor of maintaining public ownership of the coliseum.

“The coliseum, I almost see it as a utility,” he said. “It’s an extremely important asset to the city. We don’t have a river. We don’t have a beach. We don’t have a mountain. We do have a coliseum that is a crown jewel, and it’s a PR piece, a marketing piece that the rest of the country sees…. ‘That’s where they have the basketball tournaments.’ 800 events a year.

“We’re going to spend $1.4 million. Let’s say that’s your business. You’re funding this business. It brings in an incredible amount of sales tax revenue. And it does provide that job for the waitress at the Olive Garden. It provides income for the owner of the franchise at the Olive Garden, and all of the cooks and the dishwashers for that restaurant. Also for that hotel that people stay at…. I am a firm believer that the coliseum is a generator of economic activity that the citizens of Greensboro benefit from…. It is critical and it is important that we support it. I don’t know if I’d want to give away that asset.”