Budget discussions are a good time for members of public office to define themselves. In Asheville last night, Mayor Terry Bellamy voted against the budget after complaining that it (1) increases transit appropriations while taking away bus service to elderly and disabled populations, (2) did not scale back the building inspections budget proportionately to the decrease in the amount of business they are conducting, (3) didn’t give city employee compensation cost of living adjustments for the third year in a row, (4) raised water rates on industry, and more.
Her plea for mercy on the poor was followed up by a request from Brownie Newman to add consideration for irrigating the final nine holes on the Municipal Golf Course should funds loosen up. Newman said the investment should pay for itself in the short-term. Bellamy and Bill Russell said they would rather study the feasibility of privatizing the course, an enterprise fund that is still struggling to break even. Russell also secured sufficient council support to look into creating a manufacturing tier in the proposed water rate structure that would cause those who provide many jobs and pay living wage to revisit their intentions to leave the area.
Cecil Bothwell breached the subject of raising taxes, but Russell nipped that in the bud.
