City departments ask for budget adjustments

Lynchburg City Council heard a series of requests for budget adjustments totaling more than $230,000 during a work session Tuesday.

A handful of departments came forward and made requests that would: allow the downtown library to remain open part-time rather than closing; maintain staffing levels in animal control; allow Point of Honor to remain open seven days a week rather than reverting to a four-day schedule; maintain staffing levels in the IT department; and eliminate a proposal to outsource programming in one of the neighborhood centers now run by Parks & Recreation.

Parks & Recreation, which is undergoing a restructuring, had explored the idea of outsourcing management of one neighborhood center as a pilot cost-cutting initiative.

The director has since concluded this shouldn’t move forward, however, citing in part concerns about how such a relationship would be managed and the possibility it could damage the relationships the city has built up in these communities. Abandoning the idea would require restoring some funding to the neighborhood centers.

Council heard presentations and asked questions regarding each of these requests, but made no decisions Tuesday. All of the items will be brought back for future discussion.

City Manager Kimball Payne said these were the only requests for additional operating funds expected from city staff. The school superintendent and local constitutional officers, such as the commonwealth’s attorney and circuit court clerk, have been asked to be on-hand for next week’s budget deliberations.

In other news:

• Council voted to amend the city code to specify that letting fowl run loose in the city will be punishable by a fine of up to $250. Currently, no penalty is specified for this offense, causing it by default to be treated as a Class 1 misdemeanor, which carries the possibility of jail time. Law enforcement officials suggested this was overly severe. Council agreed to update the code with a specified maximum fine, but opted not to designate the crime as a lower-level misdemeanor, as had been proposed, due to a consensus that such a label was excessive.

• Council gave initial consent to accept a $285,000 Homeland Security grant that will be used to purchase an armored response vehicle for the police department. This heavy-duty vehicle will be equipped to deal with chemical, biological, nuclear and explosive hazards. Local police currently have no armored vehicles. This vehicle will be made available to other agencies in the region under the mutual-aid agreements in place, but will be maintained by Lynchburg. Formally appropriating the money will require a second vote of council.

• Council tabled a request to refund $3,170 to Habitat for Humanity for certain utility fees incurred for a new project on Monsview Place. Questions were raised about the request that could not immediately be answered. Refunding this money would be viewed as a gift to Habitat and would require a supermajority vote. Council has expressed divided feelings about the matter.