Council To Consider Budget; Tougher Decisions May Lie Ahead

— The Fayetteville City Council is set to approve the city’s $35.4 million budget when it meets Tuesday.

It includes no major reduction in any service. However, city workers will not see any salary increase next year, and a number of open positions will go unfilled.

The depressed economy, along with dire revenue predictions in some areas such as fees collected for building permits, has the city dipping into its reserve by $1.1 million to balance next year’s budget.

So for now, difficult decisions have been averted, Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan has said.

But if sales tax collection continues to slide, a cut in services will have to be considered, Jordan said. That caveat is echoed by at least one City Council member.

“I pray to God that things get better,” said Bobby Ferrell, a council member speaking at the last agenda session. “But if they don’t, the parts of the city that gets the most money is usually what gets cut.”

“Where the most money goes, the most money usually gets cut,” Ferrell said.

Jordan gives a sales tax and overall financial report to the council every month. The city has had declining sales tax collection since January. He’s warned if the first quarter of 2010 does not reverse the trend, he will consider cutting services.

“And the bulk of our services is police and fire — and cutting this area means affecting safety. So that’s not going to be an easy decision to make,” Jordan said Friday.

Jordan, in last year’s mayoral campaign, disapproved of then-Mayor Dan Coody’s dipping into reserve to balance the 2009 budget, but he said things are different now.

“We had 4 percent (sales tax) growth in 2008. Now we’re facing 6 percent decline. That’s a 10-point swing,” Jordan remarked.

“However, I intend to build those reserves back up,” he added.

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