"Staff totally agrees that we have to find a funding source to fund reparations," she said, the question is does that funding come before or after a commission issues recommendations that may say $1 million, or may say $10 million? "We are utilizing this first infusion of funding, hoping that the reparations commission will actually help us figure out what is going to be needed," Campbell said, mentioning the possibility of other revenue sources. She said even as a recurring expense, $1 million isn't a lot of money in light of the total general fund budget. Split between $1 million for an initial allocation into a reparations fund and $200,000 for the planning and community engagement process, the new budget includes a one-time $1.2 million expenditure toward reparations, though Councilwoman Sandra Kilgore pushed to make it recurring. Of that increase, the lion's share will head to city workers making less than $60,000, he said.įorty-nine city positions that were frozen in preparation for the pandemic will get funded with $1.1 million in the new budget, to be unfrozen and staffed, McDowell said, and another $700,000 will go toward a required increase in the city's contribution to the local government retirement system. The largest share of the city's budget increase is $7.9 million in raises for employees following a compensation survey, which will be used to bring all employees up to a new recommended minimum pay level or provides a 2.5% raise, whichever is greater, McDowell said.
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#ASHEVILLE NC BUDGET CALENDAR HOW TO#
The city's six enterprise funds make up the remaining $70.2 million, five of which see increases, including the water fund, which increases in the new budget from $33.2 million to $36.7 million.Ĭity Council heard staff's detailed fiscal year 2021-22 budget at the meeting after months of workshops and planning, and will host its public hearing on the budget at its next meeting June 8 and vote on its adoption June 22.Įven after the budget is approved, city staff will still be working on how to spend $26 million from the federal American Rescue Plan funds, half of which the city recently received, McDowell said.
Total, the proposed budget shows $147.4 million for the general fund, an increase of $12.6 million. In the general fund, which increases by $12.6 million in the new budget, Asheville Fire Department is seeing the biggest change, an increase in $3.8 million that includes money for new positions. With $1.7 million in savings from the current 70 vacant positions at Asheville Police Department, and $1.3 million each from the city's fund balance and base revenue, a funding gap of $5.7 million is left, he showed, just how much three cents on the tax rate would produce.Īsheville Fire and Police Departments make up the largest share of the city's general fund, a total of almost $60.1 million, split between $31.6 million for AFD and $29.3 million for APD.
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