Greensboro might pare down bond project list

At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins (right) and City Manager Rashad Young chatted with constituents in District 2.

Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young will suggest that council consider paring down the amount of bond debt to be issued next spring by delaying some projects when they meet tomorrow to discuss capital improvement projects.

Young declined to specify by how much he will recommend reducing the proposed $35 million bond package, saying he will probably give it some more thought before the council’s 3 p.m. briefing. The matter came up for discussion at a District 2 community budget meeting tonight at the Maple Street police substation.

“Our driver is we don’t want any additional debt expense that we have to cover from the general fund,” he said. Young said that for every $1 million in bond debt issued, the city typically has to pay about $100,000, or 10 percent, in debt service, and that the council’s policy has been to only issue as much new debt as it retires old debt so as to not increase “overall debt expense.”

The $35 million package comes from bonds approved by voters in 2006 and 2008. One item on the list that Young ruled out for postponement is an aquatic center at the Greensboro Coliseum that voters approved in 2008.

“The $6 million for the aquatic center is committed to the building [activity that is] underway,” Young said. “Everything else is fairly flexible in terms of our decision.”

Another item on the list is $8.3 million for street improvements, also approved by voters in 2008, that includes Merritt Drive, High Point Road streetscaping, Horse Pen Creek Road, the Cone Boulevard and Nealtown Road Connector, Alamance Church Road, sidewalks and maintenance.

Goldie Wells, the former council representative for District 2, pleaded for a key transportation priority in northeast Greensboro.

“Council members: Please remember that Cone Nealtown Road [has been in line for funding] for about 20 years,” she said.

Young offered reassurance by stating that if council opts to delay projects they will probably be looking for something with a bigger price tag to realize more significant savings than the Cone-Nealtown project would yield. Afterwards, he explained that the 2008 bond money for the project is only for the purposes of design and right of way purchase, and that the more significance expense of construction likely won’t be absorbed by the city for at least two years.

Other projects on the list include

• $3.3 million for the Old Randleman Road Fire Station (District 1, approved in 2006);

• $750,000 for land acquisition for the Reedy Fork Fire Station (District 2, approved in 2006);

• $2.1 million for the Hilltop Road recreation center (District 5, approved in 2006);

• $2 million for economic development (approved in 2006);

• $3.5 million for the Lake Jeanette Library (District 3, approved in 2006);

• $100,000 for neighborhood park renovations (approved in 2008);

• $500,000 for Gateway Gardens Phase II (District 1, approved in 2008);

• $335,000 for housing loans for energy efficiency and affordable housing (approved in 2008); and

• $8.3 million for the Natural Science Center.

Responding to a question from the audience, Young acknowledged that the city has not yet budgeted for the operation of the aquatic center, explaining that he received a budget proposal from Coliseum Director Matt Brown on Friday, but that the two have not discussed it yet.

“There will certainly be an additional expense,” Young said. “The question at this point is how that expense is going to get addressed. Is it going to get covered within the coliseum’s budget based on the fees that they generate from the activities of the facility or it going to require something additional from the general fund to cover that? And I haven’t made a determination on that.”

The city recently created a position for aquatic center manager, and hired Susan Braman to fill it at a salary of $65,000.

Responding to another question, Young said he has reached out to Guilford County Schools Superintendant Mo Green to negotiate funding for school crossing guards. Last year, the city and schools butted heads over the issue, and the council ultimately decided to continue to cover the expense for at least another year.

In previous budget meetings, Young has discussed the city’s $9 million budget shortfall this year, and plans to cut an additional $9 million in anticipation of possible cuts in Raleigh that could sent a ripple effect down through local governments.

Tonight, one resident asked him for some good news.

Young said the city is starting to see an uptick in commercial and private investment, adding that the city is issuing more building permits than in previous periods. He said an American Express data center is under construction in eastern Guilford, the city has received “a number of viable proposals” for the South Elm Street Redevelopment project, and developers have expressed early interest in redeveloping the Bessemer Shopping Center, a commercial area anchored by the McGirt Horton Library in District 2.

As with a previous meeting in District 1, tonight’s gathering became a campaign stop for at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins, who has announced plans to challenge incumbent Mayor Bill Knight in this year’s municipal election. Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan also attended the meeting. Danny Thompson, the other at-large member on council did not attend either the District 2 or District 1 community budget meetings, but was present at the District 4 meeting.

District 2 Councilman Jim Kee struggled to get his constituents’ attention following Young’s presentation. But when he introduced Perkins, they listened with rapt attention. Perkins issued an optimistic prognosis for the city, noting that the area has been named one of the top places in the world for data centers.

“That’s something that very few places in the whole country have,” he said. “We’ve already landed a $1 billion investment from AmEx on two sites out there, both the main site and the backup site. And we are lined up if we play our cards right — we’re lined up for further success in that type of industry in the future. Now that doesn’t bring in a lot of jobs — about 100 or 150 — and a data center. What it does bring in is a huge amount of tax base. If a billion dollars is assessed within the city limits of the city of Greensboro, the city of Greensboro and Guilford County will yield $13 million a year.

"Well, if you had an extra $13 million a year and it only cost you two or three,” he added, gesturing towards the screen on which staff’s budget figures were projected, “then a lot of those problems go away.”