Council to meet on budget
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on May 31, 2018 5:50 AM
The Goldsboro City Council will hold a special called meeting at 1 p.m. today to discuss the 2018-19 budget and a potential litigation matter.
Councilman Gene Aycock said that he did not know what the litigation issue was. City Manager Scott Stevens said he could not discuss the matter, since it is protected by state law as part of a closed session.
As for the budget items, Stevens said that the council will discuss some of the leftover items from its May 24 budget meeting.
"They had discussed paying $50,000 for two playgrounds, to repave two basketball courts," he said. "So that would be $100,000." he said. "There's also the matter of some internships they had discussed. So, that's something they'll likely be talking about."
Stevens said he does not expect the council to take much action, if any, during the meeting.
One topic that may be discussed during the meeting is teacher supplements, and whether the city can -- or should -- allocate money to boosting them for city schools. Aycock said he expects the topic to come up, but that he did not think the council will move forward with supplement funding.
"I doubt if there's any action taken on it," he said. "When you think about it, there are people who live in the city but whose kids go to Eastern Wayne, Tommy's Road, and I don't think the people at least in my district would appreciate us putting money toward those supplements that they won't get."
Today's budget meeting is the council's third. The council is slated to approve the budget at its meeting June 4.
During recent budget deliberations, the council voted to cut its health benefits, which were implemented a year ago, leading to $42,924 in reduced costs in the budget.
The city's fiscal 2018-19 budget of $61.4 million reflects an increase of $2.1 million from the current budget of $59.3 million. The budget holds the line on property taxes, which are set to remain at 65 cents per $100 in property valuation. No fee increases are proposed for water, sewer or garbage service.
The budget includes $819,234 for new equipment and proposes to add four new employees to the city workforce.
The budget also includes a 1 percent cost-of-living increase, and employees are eligible to receive a 1 percent merit-pay increase, which is based on performance. City employees could also receive a 1 percent increase, to 4 percent, in the city's 401(k) contribution.
The budget goes into effect on July 1.