Goldsboro City Council votes to reverse budget cuts
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on May 23, 2018 5:50 AM
The Goldsboro City Council voted to reverse budget cuts to the Wayne County Museum, increase funding to two other non-profits and cut its own health benefits at its work session Tuesday morning.
The original version of the city's recommended budget included a $5,000 cut to the museum, which director Jennifer Kuykendall said Monday would have a major negative impact on the facility's ability to grow. Councilman Bill Broadaway made the motion to reverse that cut, saying that the museum is in need of a new parking lot to handle its rising visitor load.
Councilman Bevan Foster took issue with the motion, saying that if money was going to go anywhere, it should be invested in organizations which deal with poverty.
"We have to start putting money in places that are going to help people in poverty, simple as that," he said. "I like the museum, it's a great thing, but at the same time, for a parking lot, that's five thousand dollars we could use for those kids. Rebuilding Broken Places can't even have their summer program because they don't have enough money."
Councilman Antonio Williams recused himself from the vote, on the grounds that he has business dealings with some people at the museum. The vote passed 4-1, with Foster voting in opposition. Councilman Mark Stevens was not at the meeting.
Following that vote, Foster made a motion to also increase the funding at the Boys and Girls Club and Rebuilding Broken Places by $5,000 each. Those two organizations, along with the HGDC Community Crisis Center, each received $5,000 allotments in the original recommended budget.
The council approved that motion unanimously.
Up next was a vote on the health insurance stipend which the council enacted for itself last year. Councilman David Ham, who first suggested repealing the stipend at a council meeting May 15, brought the issue back up for a vote.
Foster said that he had no problem with doing away with the stipend, but wanted an assurance that the more than $40,000 saved by doing so would go toward dealing with poverty in the city. The money would initially go back to the city's general fund, but Foster said that he did not want to see the money "wasted on marketing."
Mayor Chuck Allen said that the money could be viewed as a way to counteract the increases in allocations to the Boys and Girls Club and Rebuilding Broken Places, but Foster said that, even after that, there was still more than $30,000 left for the city to do something with.
"Councilman Ham said he got a lot of kickback on this, and if the kickback is about not having money for other things, then that's where it should go," Foster said.
No one gave Foster the assurance he was looking for. The vote passed 4-2, with Allen, Ham, Broadaway and Councilman Gene Aycock voting in favor and Williams and Foster voting against.
A similar motion from Foster to do away with paid meals at meetings failed 3-3, with Foster, Aycock and Williams voting in favor and Allen, Broadaway and Ham voting against.