Police and firemen showed up en masse at Asheville City Council’s last formal meeting to object to three years without raises. A majority on council asked staff to rework the budget, and some favored a 1% tax increase. Today, staff presented council with some options, but they respected council’s directive from the retreat to hold the line on property taxes; and they found some projects that could go on the back burner until the exact amounts of flexible revenue streams were known. Council was divided on how many programs could wait, so staff will present options for the budget resolution. Staff warned, however that council was only postponing inevitable structural budget changes. City Manager Gary Jackson was of the opinion that the budget had already been pared to the extent that further cuts would cause employees to start complaining they did not have the tools to do their jobs.
by Leslee Kulba
Wild West blogger