City Manager Rashad Young presents his budget to the city council next Tuesday. He told District 5 residents at a community budget meeting at the Oak Ridge Meadows Club House on Thursday that he will recommend $13 million in cuts, with an additional $5 million in contingency cuts as a hedge for a worst case scenario in which the state of North Carolina makes severe cuts in revenue to local governments.
In community presentations since late March, Young has outlined three tiers of cuts. The third tier reaches only $15 million of the $18 million council has asked him to consider. Young said if the city is forced to cut an additional $3 million, the savings would be achieved through “personnel expense reductions.”
The proposed budget cuts assumes no change in the city’s handling of solid waste.
“I don’t pretend to know what decision the city council will make on solid waste,” Young said. Earlier this month, the council voted to narrow the list of companies considered for a contract to handle the city’s solid waste to three that are proposing to reopen the White Street Landfill. Estimated cost savings by reopening the landfill through a private company range from $7.5 million to $8.9 million. Under the city’s current schedule, a contract for the operation of the landfill could be in place as early as July 1, but the city has been threatened with an injunction. The council has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday to go into closed session to discuss pending litigation.
“I am cautiously optimistic at this point that we’ll not have to go up to $18 million,” Young said, “but when [the state gets] to the end of the line and the budget’s still not balanced, then that’s when they start to do things that are distasteful to us all.”
Young said the city has historically maintained funds for vacant positions to give it a cushion to absorb unbudgeted expenses.
“We have a personnel liability that we do not budget for, to the tune of about $8 million,” he said. “Much of that occurs in public safety. Particularly in police we don’t directly budget for recruit classes. So when we bring in 30 recruits and it might cost $800,000, we have to eat that cost. When employees separate from service, we have to pay them out for any vacation time. We don’t budget for that.” He added that there are police overtime costs that are not budgeted.
Young said the city uses funds from vacant positions to cover those contingencies.
“It’s very difficult for the council when I tell them: ‘No, you can’t cut these vacant positions because if you cut them I’m going to have a budget problem in the next year,’” he said. “They don’t really like to hear that from me. So it’s going to be a multi-year strategy for us to deal with that unbudgeted expense.”
Young said out of an appropriated fund balance of $4 million for the current fiscal year, the city expects to have $1.5 million left over.
Out of the audience of about 15 people, two praised Young for his performance as city manager.
“My husband and I have seen a lot of city managers come and go,” Willie Taylor said. “I don’t think the city has seen leadership that equals the leadership you’re giving.”
The city manager received a round of applause.
A third resident complimented Coliseum Director Matt Brown for his handling of the 2011 AT&T US Figure Skating Championships.
In addition to staff, those attending the community meeting included District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade, at-large city council candidate Cyndy Hayworth, Downtown Greensboro Inc. President Ed Wolverton and political consultant Bill Burckley. No at-large members of council were present.
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