County Manager Tiptoes Through Buzz Saw Budget
Sticking with new fiscal realities, Jones is calling for tighter restrictions on the county’s capital paygo (pay-as-you-go) fund, which commissioners have routinely raided to pay for pet projects. Jones wants the county to start a dedicated construction fund, a lockbox of sorts, similar to what the City of Charlotte uses to pay for capital projects.
Mecklenburg’s paygo fund currently stands at $29.5 million, with $13.1 million already slated for construction projects that need to be completed. That would leave about $16.2 million in undesignated funds, which Jones urged commissioners to keep in paygo, instead of spending to fill funding gaps for programs and services targeted for cuts.
Outside agencies funded by the county are among those taking a hit. The county currently funds 26 agencies and 33 services at $5.9 million; Jones’s budget would cut that to 15 agencies and 20 services at $3.5 million.
Agencies targeted for 100-percent reductions include Mi Casa Su Casa (about $41,000); the Arts & Science Council ($428,000 for a cultural diversity grant and $350,000 for its Arts Teach program); Partners in Out of School Time ($200,000); and Middle School Matters ($200,000).
Spirit Square would see its funding drop from about $1 million to $750,00. The Council on Aging would lose 100 percent of its $236,000, but Senior Centers would see funding increased from $247,000 to $260,000.
Other agencies and programs escaped with either smaller or no cuts. A new Economic Development umbrella fund salvages $6.2 million for business incentive grants; $149,000 for the Charlotte Regional Partnership; $200,000 for the CIAA basketball tournament; and $62,000 for the Nextel NASCAR Allstar event.
Jones’s recommended budget allots about $61 million for programs and services in the county’s four lowest priority levels, with about half that is completely discretionary spending. The budget includes about $883 million for programs and services ranked in the county’s top three priority levels.
Some notable funding recommendations that made it into the manager’s budget: the Latin American Coalition ($95,000); the YMCA’s Starfish Academy ($70,000) and Strengthening Families program ($78,000); Community in Schools ($813,000); funding for organization and development diversity ($523,000) and contracted lobbying services ($210,000); the Coalition for Social Justice ($68,000); the Community Building Initiative ($20,000); and the Empowered Youth Initiative ($68,000). The county’s jail diversion program would receive $1.1 million and inmate library services would check out with $198,000, while funding for district attorney support staff drops from $3.2 million to $277,000 and money for the drug treatment center declines from $509,000 to $80,000.
Recreational programming for the parks and rec department is slated for $4.7 million, down from $6.9 million; athletic services would receive $1.4 million, down from $1.7 million. On the green-for-green front, funding for horticultural and landscaping shrivels from $1.2 million to $310,000, while greenway maintenance hikes from $295,000 to $427,000 and greenway planning from $44,000 to $247,000.
Commissioners received Jones’s budget recommendation with little comment, but many questions. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for May 27 and commissioners are slated to adopt a final budget June 15. Until then, Jones will evidently stay busy preparing the county for its “new normal.”
“As I stand on my tippy toes peering at our future,” Jones said, “I see a Mecklenburg County government organization that is different from the one we have now.”
1 2
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=2056
