THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 21, 1994 TAG: 9406210378
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940621 LENGTH: ELIZABETH CITY
After the council received no comments in its budget public hearing, members approved the document by a 6-1 margin, with only Councilman Lloyd Griffin voting no. Councilman A.C. Robinson Jr. was absent.
{REST} The budget includes a 3-cent tax increase, raising city rates to 60.5 cents per $100 of property. Also included are 2 percent merit raises for city employees, and the addition of six police officers, two drug agents and two firefighters.
The budget represents a 3.8 percent increase from 1993-94 spending and only a slight rise in expenditures from the $7.7 million general fund, which supports most city departments.
Other new revenue sources to offset expenses include higher fees for a number of services.
Griffin said he opposed the budget in part because of fees that will be charged to businesses when the city completes state-mandated fire inspections. ``It's another tax we're putting on our small businesses, which really struggle,'' he said.
Griffin also voted no, he said, because the budget raises taxes while including certain ``items'' that are important to some council members. Griffin would not immediately specify what items he meant, but he had twice voted to cut a $125 holiday bonus for council members that ultimately remained in the budget.
As the meeting ended, Mayor H. Rick Gardner opened the floor for discussion of the benefits, which were cut two weeks ago when some members were absent and restored last week when Gardner accidentally failed to vote against them.
Gardner said he wanted to go on record opposing the bonus.
Council benefits have been a source of consternation among council members for several years.
Councilman Jimi Sutton, who supported the benefits, discussed the issue at length Monday, challenging citizens to look at the perks they get in their jobs.
Sutton also suggested that race was an issue in the controversy. The council's four black members had voted to restore the bonus last week.
``I'm sick of the fact that perks got to be so bad when blacks got on the City Council,'' said Sutton, who added he had taken unpopular stands, angering members of both races over the years to keep the council together.
``Some people think that we've got two city councils, a black city council and a white city council,'' Sutton said. ``I don't agree with that.''
Councilman David Bosomworth, who had begun the effort to cut the bonus two weeks ago, said he had considered trying again but did not want to be unfair to the absent Robinson.
{KEYWORDS} BUDGET ELIZABETH CITY COUNCIL
by CNB