Council wants to retain programs

Chapel Hill Town Council members weighed in on several high-profile budget issues Wednesday, voicing their intentions to retain three town-owned buildings and commercial trash services.

During a budget work session, council members heard presentations on Town Manager Cal Horton’s budget working paper, a voluminous collection of memorandums incorporating some of the recommendations made earlier this month by town consultant Maximus Inc. and the citizens budget review advisory committee.

This year’s budget season has been in no small part defined by Horton’s initial projections that the town would need a 10-cent property tax increase because of a more than $5 million funding shortfall.

And though the manager’s revised base budget projections have since turned more optimistic, citizen subcommittee members have cautioned town leaders that unless officials find budget savings, taxpayers will still feel a crunch.

One of the committee’s core policy suggestions centered on commercial trash bin pickup, which was initially placed on the chopping block by Maximus.

Town staff, however, sided with the citizen subcommittee.

“We agree with the citizens committee that the commercial service operation should be maintained with net cost mitigated through fee adjustments,” the report states.

But the fee adjustments have drawn considerable criticism from council members. The adjustments would ensure that all users pay the same fee, now $801 for once-weekly pickup of an 8-yard bin.

Public Works Director Bill Letteri said the fee would generate $145,000 in additional revenue — allowing the town to recover roughly half the services costs, which total more than $1 million.

Many council members are concerned about the fairness of the fee, which would be levied on multi-family complexes and nonprofits, such as churches and schools.

The $15,000 in annual fees that would be charged to nonprofits especially irked Mayor Pro Tem Edith Wiggins, who said churches provide many public services and often have to dump the trash of groups who use church facilities.

“I think our goodwill with those organizations is worth more than ($15,000),” Wiggins said.

Though he agreed with charging nonprofits, council member Mark Kleinschmidt said the fee structure was biased against homeowners who live in multifamily complexes.

“I don’t support that at all,” Kleinschmidt said. “I think it’s not proper to have two tiers of residential pickup — especially where one of those tiers pays zero dollars and the other tier contributes $130,000.”

Letteri also presented the council with an option of raising the fees by 10 percent to $880 per bin.

While the increase would generate another $50,000, it would also inch the town’s fees closer to private rates, which could lead to stiffer competition from private haulers for the community’s trash.

In response to the council’s objections, Mayor Kevin Foy, who earlier in the meeting said he had no objection to either the pickup fees or the fee increase, asked Horton to look into the possibility of excluding homeowners from the fee.

Another committee recommendation that generated widespread public concern is the proposed sale of underused downtown assets.

In its April 11 presentation, the budget subcommittee made a recommendation to sell the building that houses the Chapel Hill Museum, estimated to be worth $2.7 million.

But council and staff categorically rebuffed the idea Wednesday, recommending to keep the museum building as well as the Franklin Street post office and Inter-Faith Council community shelter, which were all considered to be underperforming by the subcommittee.

“I don’t support selling any of these buildings,” Foy said.

Horton said the buildings are being used in a way that is consistent with the community’s goals.

“Meeting places are hard to establish and once lost are very hard to replicate,” he said of the post office, which also houses the Street Scene Teen Center and sessions of Orange County District Court.

But Horton added that in the not-so-distant future, the post office and IFC building might be needed to accommodate town office space.

The town now subsidizes the maintenance of the buildings and charges reduced or no rent for its current tenants.

Another issue that re-emerged this year as a potential boon to the town’s general fund is external advertising on town buses.

Transportation Director Mary Lou Kuschatka recommended the idea of wrapping buses in advertising, which could create an annual addition of $60,000.

But the proposal found little support from the council.

“I think the next stop would be billboards in parks,” council member Bill Strom said.

“I think it is in opposition to the type of community character that we have invested so heavily in here.”

Horton agreed, adding that restrictions on what could be advertised would be inevitable — opening up a potentially sticky censorship debate.

“I think that they are ugly as sin, and I don’t like them.”

The council also considered a laundry list of fee increases to help address a budget shortfall, including a $100 library fee for cardholders who live outside Orange County.

Horton will present his finalized budget to the council June 27.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.