The Greensboro City Council is facing a projected $7 million deficit in the preliminary budget figures for the general fund for fiscal year 2020-2021, which beings July 1.
At the City Council virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 5, City Manager David Parrish described it as a “tough and unusual budget.”
Assistant City Manager Larry Davis walked the City Council through the preliminary figures, which include a general fund budget with $311.8 million in expenditures and $304 million in revenue. The “Funding Gap” was listed as $7 million, but at $7.8 million most of the time that would be rounded up to $8 million.
The general fund is the largest fund in the city budget, which this year totaled over $566 million.
The reduction in revenue compared to the projections made prior to the coronavirus crisis, which shut down the economy, is 3 percent.
The big drop in revenue is from a reduction in the amount of sales tax revenue that the city expects to collect. The reduction in sales tax revenue is listed as 3 percent but Davis explained that figure already takes into account the expected reduction in this fiscal year, which is about 3 percent. He said on a year-to-year basis, from the current year’s original projection to the projection for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the reduction is about 6 percent to 7 percent.
Davis said, “The departments have been asked to be creative and original” to deal with the severe economic downturn.
Although the projected budget deficit in the general fund is $7.8 million, when Davis got to the projected cuts to move toward a balanced budget, they equaled $5.6 million, which means even if all the suggested cuts are made the City Council will have to find an additional $2.2 million in cuts.
The suggested cuts include $535,000 for participatory budgeting projects, $1.18 million in delayed maintenance, $290,000 million in delaying the next class of firefighter recruits, $500,000 in street light funding, $1.5 million to co-locate services of some departments, cutting travel and training by $400,000 and reducing insurance premiums by $600,000.
And that is just in the general fund. The transit fund for the Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA), which runs the public transportation services, is projected to have a $1.4 million deficit in 2020-2021.
The Greensboro Coliseum and Tanger Center funds are projected to have a $3 million operating deficit, which will be covered with a $3 million transfer from the general fund.
The city is also expecting a considerable reduction in revenue from the hotel/motel occupancy tax since room booking is down from 60 percent to 85 percent.
If there was any good news, it is that the proposed water rate increase of 4 percent for 2020-2021 will be delayed.
That may explain why I haven’t heard one word from the Greensboro Aquatic Center, where I have a monthly withdrawal from my bank account, to use a facility that has been closed since late March. What am I paying for? They want my money!
The easy solution: Stop Spending So Much Money on non-essential government functions! A 1.5% budgetary shortfall should not be a “sky-is-falling” scenario.
I’m not 100% opposed to social and non-essential spending, but it has been out of control and largely unchecked for many years.
When the morons and cowards on the City Council are all screaming that people face certain death if they leave their homes, you can expect a drop in sales tax revenues. No surprise here.
They are not smart enough to see the connection between closing businesses and less tax revenue. A cause and effect most third graders could figure out. Maybe they should call Cooper and tell him to quit playing politics with the great state of NC.