Budget committee moves ahead with work

Nonprofit garbage collection, bond payments and several prominent downtown properties are being targeted as potential areas where the town can reduce stress on its budget.

The Town Council-convened Budget Review Advisory Committee has been looking at almost every aspect of town operations in the past two months in the hopes of finding breathing room for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

Town Manager Cal Horton has estimated that construction and payments on the new town operations center, increasing debt service from voter-approved bonds, and other responsibilities could force a 10-cent property tax hike.

The committee and its consultant will present recommendations on the budget to the council April 11.

In the hopes of giving that advice more weight, the committee has broken off from the council and divided itself into subcommittees — one of which met Friday.

“If everyone tries to cover everything, it makes it that more difficult,” committee member Mac Clarke said. “The question … is to what extent we can make recommendations that could potentially have substantial impact on the upcoming budget year.”

Clarke and committee members Gene Pease and Aaron Nelson focused Friday on underperforming town assets, employee retention and town garbage collection.

Pease and other committee members have suggested that at least three downtown buildings are not providing adequate returns for the town and might be sold to provide a quick influx of cash and to better align town services.

Pease suggested Friday that the old Chapel Hill library building, now host to the Chapel Hill Museum, could be sold and the museum relocated to the Franklin Street post office — another building suggested for sale.

Bill Terry of the Chapel Hill Public Works Department said the museum building, built in 1968, is worth $2.7 million.

The town acquired the post office building, now home to the Street Scene Teen Center and sessions of county District Court, in 1979. The building is now worth $3.3 million, Terry said.

Street Scene founder Robert Humphreys said the center would buy the property if it were sold.

But council member Ed Harrison, who attended the center’s anniversary celebration, said town officials were not likely to authorize such sales.

The Old Municipal Building, now home to the Inter-Faith Council community shelter, has also been suggested for sale. Terry put that building’s value at $2.1 million.

Though the IFC wants to move to a more appropriate location, Executive Director Chris Moran said he hoped the town would not pursue any unilateral sale.

“I hope the town would continue to support human services,” Moran said.

The town currently provides the building, at 100 W. Rosemary St., for free and spent about $400,000 in renovations last year.

Pease said the committee should recommend that the town condense the three facilities’ services to two locations and sell the museum building.

Nonprofit groups were also at the center of the subcommittee’s examination of the town’s garbage collection services.

The town now provides collection services to apartment complexes, some businesses and nonprofit groups at lower rates than commercial providers.

Committee members said the town might eliminate its pickup services and have residents contract pickups commercially.

Pease said that when money is tight, the town has to first look at its most fundamental services.

“Police, fire, we expect,” he said, adding that if trash services continue, they should be revenue-neutral.

Subcommittee members also briefly discussed employee pay and benefits. Members expressed wariness of the town’s high turnover rate — estimated at 3 percent — and incentive policies.

Pease said the town should develop a policy similar to those between school boards and superintendents. In those plans, incentives are given based on clearly labeled goals.

The subcommittee agreed that the town should freeze hiring for open positions — the police department currently has 10 vacancies — except for specialized slots.

Clarke and others said that while many recommendations might have little impact on the coming fiscal year, the ideas discussed will help avoid future budget crises.

“I hope that we will at least remember some things from this year so we won’t be starting from ground zero again,” Clarke said.

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