By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
For the past two years, as officials in Chapel Hill and Carrboro have begun working up their respective budgets, the game has been to tread water through cost cutting and putting off major projects and expenditures.
As southern Orange County continues to post anemic growth numbers and stubbornly high unemployment, leaders in both towns profess caution. But this year, out of necessity and opportunity, both towns will try to forge ahead a bit.
Bare necessities
For Carrboro Town Manager Steve Stewart, the biggest necessity is getting the soon-to-be-completed Fire Station 2 — the largest construction project in the town’s history — up and running.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,†Stewart said in a recent interview. “It promises to be a difficult budget year.â€
Stewart said the town remains in a “soft freeze†on hiring and has delayed purchases of major equipment. He’s also relied on the town’s employees to find ways to cut costs.
But the costs of operating the new Homestead Road facility and hiring three more firefighters will put a drag on finances. The station is expected to be completed later this year. The town has spread out the hiring and training of the new fire crew over the past few years. Hiring three more firefighters over the next year should bring the crew to full-strength by spring.
Stewart said federal and state grant money, which helped the town defray some of the cost of the new positions in the past, may be available, but as yet nothing is definite.
“We’ve got that expense,†he said of the new personnel, “plus the expense of a brand-new building.â€
Another big-ticket item affecting the town this year will be the reconstruction of Weaver Street and a possible state-mandated increase in retirement contributions.
Stewart said the town is likely to go “slow and steady†on the Weaver Street project.
Revenue projections, particularly sales taxes, do not appear to be recovering. Stewart expects to draft another lean budget. He noted that the gloomy 9.3 percent drop in sales-tax revenues he projected last year turned out to be fairly accurate.
This year’s budget, he said, will be much the same as last year’s. “We’re going to be very cautious and only do what we absolutely have to do,†Stewart said.
Opportunity knocks
Chapel Hill Town Manager Roger Stancil said the town’s quick action to throttle back in the fall of 2008 continues to pay dividends. He said the money saved by cutting back early not only helped fill a gap in the current year’s budget but set the town up to take advantage of financing opportunities this year.
“We’re in good shape, but it’s still a time for caution,†Stancil said. He pointed out that the town has held on to its Triple A bond rating, which speaks well of where the town is fiscally. But the local economy still leaves him with trepidation.
“[The area] is not rapidly rising out of recession,†Stancil said. And with a slow economy statewide, there is always concern that the legislature will shift additional costs to local governments.
Still, Stancil said Chapel Hill has been frugal enough and built enough of a fund balance to look for opportunities in the bond market.
That means a likely go-ahead on the expansion for the Chapel Hill Public Library, a major cost that the town delayed in part to save costs and in part because of uncertainty in credit markets.
Stancil said credit markets have stabilized, and low interest rates present a good opportunity.
“Most towns are not getting out in the market,†he said.
As a result, Stancil said, the town is likely able to sustain the debt to build the addition without raising taxes.
The town also will sort through capital needs such as improvements to parks and recreation facilities, he said.
While this year may be one of seizing opportunities, there will be some fiscal consequences down the road. The library addition might be built without a tax increase, Stancil said, but staffing and operating it could be a different story. The increases in personnel and operating costs are expected to add $700,000 to $800,000 to the annual budget. Making that up through taxes, Stancil said, would add about 1.5 cents to the tax rate.