Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The $146.5 million budget received unanimous, although tentative, approval of council. It will take a formal vote at Monday afternoon's regular council meeting. The new plan takes effect July 1.
"You're on the verge of spending $140 million. How does it feel?" Mayor David Bowers asked after the vote.
"Like duck soup," Councilman Jack Parrott joked in response.
The spending plan is a $9.7 million increase over the current budget year. The only tax rate increase in it is a 56-cent boost in the monthly 911 surcharge on local telephone bills.
During the mostly low-key daylong deliberations, council approved City Manager Bob Herbert's recommendations to expand emergency medical services to all fire stations except the one downtown, beef up communications technology in the 911 emergency center and allow more training for 911 operators.
The plan also allows for stationing an advanced life-support ambulance in the southeast quadrant for the first time.
The largest single expenditure over last year's spending plan is $2.4 million for raising city salaries. Workers will get an average 4.7 percent salary increase.
Among other things, council also:
Unanimously approved raising the income limit, from $24,000 to $26,000, in a program offering a property tax freeze for disabled and elderly citizens. The new income limits will take effect on property taxes beginning July 1, 1996, and will not affect the 1996 budget, which takes effect July 1.
Turned down a request for $1 million from a committee organizing a D-Day Memorial in the city of Bedford.
Instead, council asked Herbert to figure out how much Roanoke can afford to donate to the memorial and find a funding source for it. But any money it does eventually put in is likely to be far short of the hoped-for $1 million.
"We wish the project had come here, but with their decision to go to Bedford, we wish them well, and we mean that sincerely," Bowers said.
The city had tried to lure the planned memorial to a small park adjacent to the Hotel Roanoke. But after months of deliberations, organizers last year picked a more spacious, 20-acre Bedford site that has a view of the Peaks of Otter.
"I think it's unrealistic to have the citizens of this city afford that amount of money for a monument built in Bedford," said Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles, who also serves on the D-Day Memorial committee.
Agreed, over a three-year period, to reduce health insurance premiums for city retirees ages 55 to 65, who are not yet eligible for Medicare.
Approved a $100,000 increase in funding for the Citizens Service Committee, which decides funding for human services and cultural organizations. It will bring the total in city dollars the agency gets to dole out to $388,000.
With that action, council referred four requests to the committee from different organizations.
The West End Center, an educational outreach program for at-risk youths, has asked for $50,000 in funding to expand operations at its Southwest Roanoke site. Explore Park in Roanoke County is asking for $25,000 to $50,000. Mill Mountain Theatre has asked the city for an additional $15,000, while the Child Health Investment Partnership is seeking $50,000.
The longest discussions of the daylong deliberations centered on a funding request for $600,000 by the Jefferson Center Foundation, which wants to finish renovations at Fitzpatrick Hall.
The request, made during a council meeting earlier this year, was not funded in Herbert's recommended budget.
After batting around concerns about the proposal for an hour, council members unanimously told Herbert to find $600,000 for the renovations and bring a recommendation back to them. But when and if it comes, it's likely there will be strings attached.
During wrangling over the proposal, Bowers pushed for a reduced amount, saying the center should seek funding from other local jurisdictions.
"If we give them $600,000, they're not going to go after any other money. ... I don't see how you could require our citizens to pay 100 percent. It's just not right," he said.
Councilman William White worried over the message the appropriation would send to other worthy organizations that also have needs. Other council members didn't want to write the organization a blank check, leaving council with no financial control over the renovation project.
by CNB