The Greensboro City Council will be discussing some of the budget ramifications of the coronavirus shutdown at its meeting on Tuesday, May 5.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said that in particular the City Council would be “looking at sales tax revenue. The sales tax revenue projections are way off.”
The sales tax revenue projections for the current fiscal year were made about this time last year when the economy was in great shape and improving. No one in the spring of 2019 was predicting that the country would close down in the spring of 2020. With the stay-at-home order forcing many businesses to close and putting thousands out of work, sales are way down, which for the city means sales tax revenue is down creating a hole in the budget.
But that is really just the starting point for budget discussions. The Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, a $90 million facility, was scheduled to open on March 20. The grand opening and every performance since has been canceled. The Tanger was supposed to be financed primarily with a combination of parking fees, ticket fees and hotel/motel tax revenue. With no performances there is no parking fee or ticket fee revenue and, because of the stay-at-home order, the hotel/motel tax revenue is also going to be far below projections.
Vaughan said, “We need to talk about not only The Tanger but the Coliseum as well. The Coliseum is a huge generator of income across the city and for the CVB [Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau]. The Coliseum and the Aquatic Center bring an awful lot of revenue into our city.”
All the events at the Coliseum and at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC) have also been canceled, so the City Council will also be trying to figure out how to make up that lost revenue.
Vaughan said, “We’re not in this alone everybody across the country is grappling with the same issues. We’ll figure out what the best practices are.”
Guilford County recently received $93 million in federal funds to help defray the cost to the county of the COVID-19 crisis. Greensboro was not so fortunate.
Vaughan said that Greensboro didn’t receive any of that money. She said, “Charlotte got money. But nobody else in the state qualified.”
“Shortfall” is government code for spending more than they are taking in. How about a “spending-fall”?
Spending more than you have and figuring on future income is always wrong. As we see the bottom fell out of our worlds and now we find out that our leaders did not save for for a flood.
I’m so glad I no longer live in Greensboro. An All liberal council – without a single white male – simply will not tighten their belt. So it will be big tax hikes for you all! Hold on to your wallets!
It costs me too much, otherwise, I would have left GSO a long time ago. I grew up here in the 40s & 50s. The whole country was different then.
A hot button subject that I hear will be discussed is the requirement that EVERYBODY in the City wear a mask in public. This will be a can of worms they do not want to open. Things to consider will be: Who will monitor the mask usage. Will GPD be required to enforce the mandate. What will be the penalty. Will businesses be made to administer the requirement. How will masks be distributed to those who do not own one. How will the purchase of the masks be funded. How and where will the masks be distributed. Will non-city residents be in violation if they do not own and wear a mask. And many more questions which will arise. I understand this has been discussed in the recent past, and there are some, perhaps a majority, in a knee jerk decision, are in favor. This topic has not been added to the agenda, but it is certainly going to be discussed, and depending on the atmosphere, could possibly be an agenda item shortly. When citizens are fed up with restrictions, and the curve flattening, an increase in restrictions will surely create an uproar.
Maybe its time for all of us to start carrying loaded guns everywhere we go!!! Enough is Enough!!! The idiots are taking over!!!