{"id":21657,"date":"2014-06-10T09:01:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T13:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=21657"},"modified":"2014-06-10T09:55:32","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T13:55:32","slug":"raleigh-councilors-adopt-754-1m-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2014\/06\/10\/raleigh-councilors-adopt-754-1m-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Raleigh Councilors Adopt $754.1M Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>City Manager Ruffin Hall can close the books on his first budget for the City of Raleigh.<\/p>\n<p>In a 7 to 1 vote Monday, Councilors approved Hall\u2019s proposed budget, along with about $363,000 in additional expenditures after only two public work sessions and a public hearing. The total budget comes in at $754.2 million, with the general operating fund making up $417.7 million of that. The new fiscal year begins July 1. <\/p>\n<p>Councilor John Odom cast the lone vote against the budget.<\/p>\n<p>A 1-cent property tax increase is expected to raise $5.1 million to fund resurfacing projects on city streets. This will bring the resurfacing budget up to $7.1 million. A voter-approved increase of 1.12 cents will be used to fund $75 million in transportation projects.<\/p>\n<p>Residents with city garbage pickup should expect a monthly increase of $1 to fund cart and truck replacement and bring the department closer to being fully sustainable. A 4.4-percent increase in sewer rates will go to fund the replacement of the city\u2019s aging water infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Fight Over Crossing Guards<\/strong><br \/>\nOne of the largest points of contention about the budget was the funding of crossing guards for 11 Wake County schools in the city limits. Councilors voted 5 to 3 to allocate about $73,600 dollars for the schools, which had previously requested guards, but did not meet the standards outlined by city policy to automatically get a crossing guard.<div id=\"attachment_21659\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/crosswalk-336x252.jpg\" alt=\"crosswalk\" width=\"336\" height=\"252\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21659\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/crosswalk-336x252.jpg 336w, https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/crosswalk.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Jonathan Hawkins \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Councilors Russ Stephenson, Bonner Gaylord and Thomas Crowder voted against the funding, in part because it doesn\u2019t include the remaining 27 schools.<\/p>\n<p>Councilors in support of the funding said they should provide crossing guards to the schools that expressed a need, and continue to work with the school district and sheriff\u2019s office on funding additional schools.<\/p>\n<p>Gaylord said he didn\u2019t feel the Council was being equitable by deviating from the city\u2019s policy and only awarding guards to schools that asked for them.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-right half type-aside\"><strong>Schools to Receive Crossing Guards<\/strong><br \/>\nDaniels Middle School<br \/>\nDillard Middle\/Elementary<br \/>\nDouglas Elementary School<br \/>\nDurant Middle School<br \/>\nHunter School<br \/>\nLeadmine Elementary School<br \/>\nLeesville Elementary School (Country Trail)<br \/>\nLeeseville Elementary School (O\u2019Neal)<br \/>\nMartin Middle School<br \/>\nPowell Elementary School<br \/>\nWalnut Creek Elementary School<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re basically leaving out all the folks that didn\u2019t have that squeaky wheel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Stephenson recommended having all of the schools reapply so funding could be provided to the 11 schools that need them the most. He said otherwise, it looks as though the Council is playing favorites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not looking to play favorites,\u201d said Councilor Wayne Maiorano by phone during the meeting. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking to provide special treatment for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The funding, he said, is going to the schools that have expressed a sincere need for a crossing guard, some of which are currently using their teachers to help kids cross streets.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/mapsengine.google.com\/map\/embed?mid=zte9DOWhKC9o.k9Ru2hEB4X6Y\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Law and Public Safety Committee will begin reviewing the city\u2019s crossing guard evaluation policy at a future meeting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Budget Highlights <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Councilors also approved an additional $50,000 for an economic development community study for the Oakwood\/Tarboro area.<\/li>\n<li>The budget funds nine new police officers and two engine companies to staff a new North Raleigh fire department.<\/li>\n<li>$21.9 million is set aside to purchase more new vehicles and equipment.<\/li>\n<li>City employees will get an average 2.9 percent merit increase and retirement contributions have been increased from 2 percent to 3 percent.<\/li>\n<li>Councilors will receive a $1,000 salary increase. The five-year incremental increase was <a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2012\/06\/01\/70-percent-raise-proposed-for-councilors\/\" target=\"_blank\">approved in 2012<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>City Councilors Monday adopted next year\u2019s budget and, after much debate, provided additional funding for school crossing guards. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24029,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,15],"tags":[77,1659],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24029"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}