Lynchburg City Council members mull new fees for services

No tax increases are under consideration in Lynchburg at the moment, although new fees for services are a possibility.

Lynchburg City Council held a special one-day budget retreat Saturday in order to begin developing priorities for the coming fiscal year and pull together some preliminary budget-balancing ideas.

One of the proposals generated during the eight-hour meeting was imposing new user fees for certain city services, such as leaf collection or bulk refuse pickup, both of which are now free. Other suggestions included: privatizing services, pursuing more regional partnerships and rethinking the traditional five-day workweek.

Council did not discuss the prospect of raising taxes as originally planned. That item was deleted from the agenda by City Manager Kimball Payne, who noted he has already decided not to call for a tax hike in the budget proposal he’s scheduled to present next month.

“I don’t think there’s been any enthusiasm for a tax increase anywhere that I’ve heard,” Payne said.

It’s unusual for City Council to begin its budget deliberations this early in the process. Saturday’s retreat, held at the Lynchburg Public Library, was organized at the city manager’s behest in order to provide him greater guidance as he crafts what will be a painful budget proposal.

The city, facing the likelihood of steep cuts in state aid, is working to reduce its spending by 10 percent in the new fiscal year that will take effect July 1.

Central themes that emerged during council’s retreat included the importance of public safety, infrastructure maintenance and education — although officials noted that prioritizing those areas does not mean they won’t be subjected to cuts.

Prior to the retreat, council was given several specific questions regarding its attitudes about specific points of the budget. Those issues were also discussed at length Saturday, but little consensus formed.

Council did agree that no budget items should be treated as sacred cows, but other key questions, such as what services or programs could be targeted for funding cuts, generated no clear decisions.

Several council members said afterward they enjoyed the ability to engage in a more open-ended, free-form dialogue about the budget.

“I liked the conversation,” Mayor Joan Foster said. “We don’t usually get to do that. It may be helpful for us to start doing this on an annual basis. To just get together and talk about our priorities for the budget.”

Council members said they felt a more focused deliberation would occur when they had a specific budget proposal in hand. The city manager is scheduled to unveil his budget proposal on March 9.