At last night’s meeting, the Greensboro City Council once again showed how much it values local business owners:
In other business, the council approved an increase in fees to do business in Greensboro. Previously, $1,200 was the most any business paid, regardless of how big it was or how much business it does.
That’s lower than all the state’s big cities (Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh) and most of the medium-size ones (Cary, Greenville, Salisbury, Wilson). Greensboro is the third-largest city in the state.
The city raised the cap to $10,000, which is what Charlotte and Winston-Salem charge for some types of businesses. Raleigh’s maximum is $20,000. Most businesses will pay more under the proposal, based on their size, their gross receipts and what they do. The city estimates the changes will bring in $548,000 more a year.
Outgoing Mayor Keith Holliday echoed the spin from city staff that Greensboro simply will be keeping up with “what today’s market calls for,” while council member Florence Gatten said the extra $548,000 was “the point for me.”
But both Holliday and Gatten were missing the point, argued council member Mike Barber, who argued —gasp—- that perhaps the city should be fousing on cutting its budget instead of seeking new sources of revenue:
“Our effort with this is to come up with a budget that doesn’t raise taxes and has revenues match expenses. But we’re doing it on the revenue side and not the expense side.
The point of my conversation is our focus to get where we need to by July 1st is on the revenue side, and we’re imposing that on businesses. It should be on the expense side. That’s my point.”
Not one council member supported Barber’s view, and the motion passed by an 8-1 vote. But let’s hope Barber keeps speaking up. Someone’s listening, even if the mayor and the rest of the city council aren’t.
