In a budget update, Asheville’s CFO Ben Durant addressed the city’s shrinking fund balance. Since FY ’05-’06, the fund balance has shrunk from 31.0% to 19.7% of the general fund. Durant said the city’s replacement of a fire truck that was overturned in an accident was a great use of the city’s fund balance. Yet the staff report listed purchases from florists and trophy shops as encumbrances. $500,000 was spent on unbudgeted master planning.
Dr. Carl Mumpower disapproved of dipping into the fund balance for items like outside agency requests. He added that the city plays a shell game. It boasts using its fund balance for capital improvements, but it budgets general funding for exotic roles of government like the creation of greenways and performing arts venues, forcing it to reach into its savings for essentials.
His peers did not want to hear that. Durant launched into a dissertation distinguishing recurrent funds from one-time allocations. Robin Cape jumped on Mumpower for using a metaphor. The city was “not going out to eat at all.†Mayor Terry Bellamy said the city had striven to limit outside agency funding in recent years. She closed stating that she wanted accurate information out there.
