Asheville City Council hung out from 3:00-10:00pm today. At their first meeting, a worksession, they discussed the budget. Revenues came in $1 million less than expenditures. The city would begin the next year $5.1 million short if the state didn’t require them to balance their budget. The shortfalls include appropriations that dragged the city’s fund balance below the minimum allowed by city policy.

And so, at their formal meeting, six of seven members of council thought it would be a good idea to spend $60,000 of the federal deficit on “transit street furniture” and $125,000 on repairs to the transit garage roof. $30,000 will be spent for a local match to a $120,000 grant from the federal government for bus advertisements. As was mentioned in a previous post, buses will run more frequently on some routes. Only Bill Russell pointed out the way to close a budget gap is to stop spending.

People tend to defer maintenance when times get tough, but, like a lot of local governments, Asheville City Council unanimously determined now is the time to fix up the palace. $19,842.50 was appropriated to hire a project manager for about $395,000 in design and permitting to deal with water seepage in historic city hall.