City Council finalizes changes to $364 million city budget

Lynchburg City Council finalized its budget Tuesday after making a few final amendments.

Council decided to beef up support for local tax relief for the elderly and disabled program, which is designed to help the city’s neediest homeowners.

City staff suggested funding be increased by 5 percent, on par with the rise in property values seen during this year’s reassessment.

Council opted for a 15 percent increase, a total bump of $93,597.

The extra money will come from a surplus of local cash created primarily when the city received unanticipated state funding for public safety and some elected offices, such as the Circuit Court clerk.

The city’s final budget document will keep the real estate tax rate level, despite the jump in property values and resulting outcry from homeowners.

It also contains full funding for the downtown library and the school district’s crossing guards, two items that generated strong public support after being put on the chopping block early on in the process.

The budget, which projects the city will see shrinking revenues as the country battles through the recession, also imposes a 3 percent across-the-board cut in employee salaries. Council members also rescinded a $2,000 raise they approved for themselves in 2007.

The city’s total budget adds up to $364 million — a drop of $11 million compared to the current fiscal year.

Questions still remain about the capital improvements plan, a document that outlines all major city projects and expenditures for the next five years.

City staff has been reshuffling CIP items in an effort to bring the projected spending into compliance with internal city policies. The budget, as originally proposed, violated city policies on three points.

Officials are now working to correct those defects in an effort to avoid negative comment from the bond rating agencies. The city plans to seek a multi-million dollar bond issuance this summer.

City Council is scheduled to formally adopt the budget in May. The budget staff said the CIP would not be ready in time for that vote.

They hope to submit a final CIP proposal for council’s consideration in June. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Some ideas broached by council during this year’s budget process, but ultimately abandoned include:

w Reassigning D.A.R.E. and school resource officers to street patrol. This suggestion was dropped after it garnered negative reviews from the Lynchburg police chief and after the city found out it was eligible for federal stimulus funding for new police officers.

w Reducing funding for city schools. Nearly all of council strongly opposed this idea, but members did hand down a clear mandate for greater consolidation between city and school operations. Consolidation of duplicate functions between the two entities has been discussed often in the past, but never aggressively acted on.

w Shutting off the Langley Fountain in downtown. This measure would have generated relatively meager savings, but had the potential to be a high-profile symbol of the city’s commitment to cutting costs wherever it could. Officials agreed to drop the proposal Tuesday with no additional discussion.

Councilman Michael Gillette — who put the fountain on the list of suggested budget amendments — noted afterward that any money saved by shutting it down could not be re-appropriated for general government purposes.

The cost of running the fountain is charged to the Utilities Department. Utility money is funneled into a special fund and cannot be transferred to other city departments.

Gillette, Ward I, also noted that council was able to balance the budget without sacrificing the fountain. He said he was happy with the final outcome.

“We balanced the budget and were able to maintain quality services, like the downtown library, while at the same time allocating significant (tax relief) for those with the greatest need,” he said. “I think we got our priorities straight.”

Councilman Turner Perrow, Ward IV, said he remained dissatisfied with the tax rate. The tax resolution passed by a narrow 4-3 margin. Perrow was among the dissenters who favored reducing the rate.

“I’m disappointed we weren’t able to lower the tax rate. That’s the primary message,” he said Tuesday, adding council should have at least asked to see a budget built on a smaller rate.

“Had we done that, we could have had a more informed discussion about what’s needed and what’s not,” he said. “But we deprived the public of that discussion.”