
{"id":9152,"date":"2010-02-25T11:16:50","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T19:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=9152"},"modified":"2010-02-25T11:16:50","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T19:16:50","slug":"manager-lays-out-budget-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/02\/25\/manager-lays-out-budget-realities\/","title":{"rendered":"Manager lays out budget realities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Kirk Ross<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n CARRBORO  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Town Manager Steve Stewart isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t known for overblown hyperbole or prone to wild exaggeration. So when on Tuesday night he called this year and the one ahead two of the toughest he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faced in 32 years of drafting budgets, it underlined what town leaders are facing, again, as budget season rolls around.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sounds like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a fun spring,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Alderman Jacquie Gist deadpanned after hearing Stewart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reality check at a meeting of the board at Town Hall.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Stewart said that paying for the opening and staffing of the new fire station on Homestead Road and a mandatory increase in the rate the town pays into the employee retirement fund are the biggest fiscal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>He also said he made a pledge to the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employees that he would do everything he could to avoid any layoffs and furloughs. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll mean holding open unfilled positions, cutting back on training and forgoing proposed changes to the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pay classifications and merit pay system.<\/p>\n<p>In order to avoid a tax increase, the town will have to keep a tight rein on spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be lucky just to continue to do what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s any room for new programs or expansion unless we cut somewhere else or we look at a tax increase being imposed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stewart said.<\/p>\n<p>Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton said he expects Stewart to try to hold the line on taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know the manager will do what he can to make sure there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as little change in taxes as he can figure out how to do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chilton said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Chilton said he was concerned about the impact on town employees of another year of short staffs and no pay increases.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel like the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employees have been partners with the taxpayers in trying to deal with the recession,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The board, Chilton said, will need to find a way of letting employees know they are valued by the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to find some way to make sure [the employees] are feeling the love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the mayor said.<\/p>\n<p>Also Tuesday night, the board adopted new rules for the design review process for downtown developments. The changes were made to allow for greater flexibility in judging a project\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s design.<\/p>\n<p>In other action, the board delayed a public hearing on a revision of the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outdoor-lighting ordinance and on modifications to the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affordable-housing rules.<\/p>\n<p>The board also delayed a decision on whether to change banks. Chilton said the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finance department staff is short-staffed and board members wanted to hold off on a decision until the matter could be more thoroughly reviewed and the finance department better prepared to make a change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kirk Ross Staff Writer CARRBORO \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Town Manager Steve Stewart isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t known for overblown hyperbole or prone to wild exaggeration. So when on Tuesday night he called this year and the one ahead two of the toughest he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s faced in 32 years of drafting budgets, it underlined what town leaders are facing, again, as budget&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9153,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9152\/revisions\/9153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}