County Manager Tiptoes Through Buzz Saw Budget
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones quoted and referenced everybody and everything from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Teddy Roosevelt to the P.O.W. Stockdale Paradox, in unveiling a recommended budget that avoids a tax increase, cuts $81 million in programs and services, axes nearly 400 employees, and left Jones, in his words, standing on tippy toes, peering at the county’s future.
Maybe Jones was standing in the deep end of one of the county’s indoor and outdoor pools, which would receive nearly $2.3 million in funding under his spending proposal.
The manager’s recommended budget tops out at $1.3 billion, a 5.7-percent dip from the current-year plan. Among the departments hardest hit: public libraries stand to lose about 45 percent of its budget, nearly $15 million, and 206 employees. The department would receive just shy of $18 million, which officials say would force the system to close some libraries and reduce operating hours at others.
Parks and recreation is on the chopping the block for a $15.3 million cut, about 37 percent of its current-year funding, and could lose 204 employees. The department would receive about $25.6 million.
The Veterans Service Office, which was bracing for total elimination, would lose about half of its $1 million budget and seven of its 14 staffers.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is tagged to lose about $20 million in county funding, a 6.2-percent dip, and would receive about $294 million. Accounting for anticipated cuts from the state, CMS officials are prepping for a $78 million shortfall.
Jones blamed much of the dire budget situation on declining revenues, which have plummeted nearly $41 million, along with a history of high-dollar spending for county services and programs.
“We cannot afford the government services we have right now,” Jones said. “Our debt is too high. Our fund balance has dwindled to levels inconsistent with a strong financial foundation.”
Yet in the face of gaping budget shortfalls, Jones said, quoting Emerson, “This time, like all others, is a very good one, if we know what to do with it.”
The process starts, he said, by accepting the “brutal realities” that face the county and envisioning a “new normal” moving forward. He likened the situation to Vietnam prisoners of war: the ones who survived, Jones said, accepted their situation and dealt with it realistically. The same, he said, holds true for Mecklenburg County.
“Collectively, we need to stand on our tippy toes, peering over the horizon to see a future that others cannot yet envision,” Jones opined. “In fact, we must do more than envision this future – our new normal – we must invent it.”
As part of that invention, Jones wants the county to start rebuilding its fund balance – essentially its savings account – which has previously been raided time and again to pay for operating expenses and debt service. The county, for example, snatched about $60 million to help balance its current year budget.
Jones’s recommended budget includes a $14.7-million line item to help rebuild the fund balance kitty. Commissioners could either accept the recommendation, or use the money to restore programs and services targeted for cuts.
The county, Jones said, must also do a better job with its revenue projections, which officials over-estimated this year by tens of millions of dollars. To prevent a recurrence, Jones’s budget recommendation is based on sales tax collection of $10.8 million a month for the upcoming fiscal year, or about 24 percent less than the original sales tax budget for the current year.
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