HAMLET — The Hamlet City Council slashed their budget in real time at their monthly meeting Tuesday in order to withstand the unexpected blow from the county’s switch to an ad valorem sales tax distribution method in April.
The council members winced and grunted like a boxer taking more punches than he can handle as Councilwoman Abbie Covington read out the proposed cuts. Their already completed budget had to be reworked to account for a potential $700,000 loss in sales taxes for the 2020-21 fiscal year, in addition to consideration of the 30% losses expected as a result of COVID-19.
Covington said the city is looking at a “no frills year” ahead in what was already an “extremely lean” budget. She said that there “seems to be an attitude from the (county commissioners) that we can just go through helter-skelter and just cut out all this superfluous activity and funding that we have stuffed in our budget — it’s not there.” The city’s accountant shared this assessment of the lack of “superfluous” expenses, according to Covington’s account of their conversation.
The council approved a $0.10 tax increase, bringing the tax rate up to $0.76, as well as a slew of cuts. While the council has agreed to make these cuts, they will have to return to City Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday to formally approve the changes to the budget.
The following cuts to the operating budget were approved:
• 4th of July festivities, which cleared $2,500 from the budget
• Old Fashioned Christmas event, $1,000
• Employee reimbursements, $5,000
• Facade grant (awarded to businesses to help improve their exterior), $2,500
• Fireworks display, $12,000
• Contribution to the county for the Hamlet Library, $31,000
• Contributions to “other agencies,” $8,000
• Contribution to the John Coltrane mural, $5,000
In capital outlay, the city will cut:
• A $15,000 first-year lease payment for a new limb truck
• A $67,000 first-year lease payment for a new street sweeper
• New mower for the cemetery, $11,250
• Two air packs for the fire department, $15,000
The city also eliminated planned employee pay raises, which came to a total of $106,000, and Christmas bonuses for employees, which came to a total of $13,100. The part-time animal control officer position was cut to clear $15,000 more from the budget.
“I’ve been on council a long time, this is the worst council meeting I’ve had to participate in — any of us have had to,” said Mayor Bill Bayless. “I mean we’re all citizens just like anyone else is a citizen in town. I just hate to see the fact that they couldn’t manage the county budget, that they’re coming out and taking the money from our city. It hurts, it hurts real bad and it’s going to cost all of us.”
All these cuts amounted to $293,850, leaving the city still more than $300,000 short of the amount they needed to cut. The $0.10 tax increase (which adds about $246,000 to the budget) was the minimum amount the city could increase it, according to Covington, but still left them short.
“We can thank the county for that,” said Councilman Eddie Martin, referring to the tax increase.
When they reconvene Thursday, the council will vote on a fund balance transfer, which is like the city’s savings account, of at least $40,000 to balance the budget, Covington said. She added that this needed fund balance transfer may have to be increased by as much as $100,000 to respond to losses from the pandemic.
Bayless said he didn’t know how the city could “eat” that big of a fund balance transfer, to which Covington replied, “If the county can operate with an 8.3% fund balance so can we,” referring to the low amount of savings the county has operated with in recent years. The recommended fund balance for the county is 30% of expenditures.
“I think we plan better than they do,” Bayless added.
On the cuts to special events, Bayless said, “I don’t think there’s any other way around it.”
“I think it’s a shame, I think it’s pitiful and some of these events are gonna hurt not just Hamlet but the entire county, the community at large,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jesse McQueen. “It’s an absolute shame that this has to happen.”
Covington said cutting the pay raises “hurt the most.” Bayless said the cuts to the library will likely mean the library will close. Councilman Maurice Stuart was pained at the cuts to the library. He asked the mayor if the $31,000 cut to the library would shut it down.
“Yes sir,” Bayless replied.
“That hurts my heart,” Stuart said as the negotiations continued.
Interim City Manager Bill Zell said he would reach out to the artists behind the John Coltrane mural to see if they could move the project up so that the costs could be incurred in the current budget rather than the next budget.
Public Works Director Billy Stubbs detailed the need for the capital outlay projects that will be cut. On the street sweeper, Stubbs said the current one is the 1993 model, which was upgraded 12 years ago but is in desperate need of replacement. On the new limb truck, Stubbs said his staff did $800 of maintenance on the current one Tuesday in an effort to make it last another year.
“(The street sweeper) is in bad condition, it needs to be replaced but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” Stubbs said. “We ain’t got no other choice, the county has put us in a situation where we’re going to have to patch together what we’ve got and keep on going and give the services the best we can.”
At the close of the meeting, Covington apologized to the citizens of Hamlet for the cuts they had to make, and said she hopes they “realize this was completely out of our hands.”
Martin and Councilman Oscar Sellers took a different view.
”I don’t want to apologize for something we didn’t do,” Martin said. “I think if anything we need to blame the county — put it where it belongs: the county did this.”