Each agency executive director, organization leader, event coordinator and other outside agency leader approached Union City Council members to plead their case.
Many came with the same request as in previous years. Others, like the Union County Carnegie Library, asked city leaders for additional support. Still others were new requests.
All had one thing in common.
They were seeking funding.
City council members continued their budget workshops Wednesday afternoon, hearing requests from outside agencies as to what they would like the city to do for them in the next fiscal year. The council spent nearly five hours hearing from 11 different agencies.
Those agencies making their proposals on Wednesday were:
• Union County Chamber of Commerce
• Youth Leadership Union County
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration (NAACP)
• Union County Disabilities and Special Needs Board
• American Red Cross Piedmont Chapter Union Office
• Union County Carnegie Library
• Union County Animal Shelter
• Olde English District
• Uniquely Union
• Union County Historical Society
• Union County Tourism Commission.
Council will spend part of their workshop today (Thursday, March 25) — which begins at noon — hearing from additional outside agencies before setting budget priorities, setting capital and reviewing the fiscal year 2010-11 budget.
Each of the agencies to come before council on Wednesday thanked the city for its support and then went about explaining why they needed the funds they are requesting. All of them understand the existing economic situation but hope council members can find some way of continuing to support or lending new support to their causes or missions.
But with a continuing decline in city revenues a problem council will have to deal with in the near future, according to city finance director Walker Gallman, council members began discussion on where funds for outside agencies would come from and whether or not they could continue to fund them at or above current support or even add new requests to the budget.
Gallman told council members Wednesday, following a discussion between him and Union Mayor Harold Thompson that morning, if they were going to attempt to trim the budget as much as they could, which means asking city department heads to trim their own budgets, it might be time to take a critical look at how much the city spends on outside agencies.
“As you go through these, just keep that in mind,” Gallman said.
Council member and mayor pro-tem Keith Henderson agreed and said he does not think it’s right to spend taxpayer dollars on any outside agency expenditures. He said people are suffering and budgets are tight and the council should keep that in mind.
Other council members also agreed with Gallman.
The consensus was if council is asking city departments to trim their budgets even further, perhaps it is time to do the same for its contributions to outside agencies.
Gallman also said the city is looking at alternate funding options and other nontraditional measures to trim its budget. He suggested to council members Wednesday it might be a good time to talk about implementing a one-cent city hospitality or accommodation tax.
Those funds can be used for economic development purposes and the county already has one in place. An additional penny on the dollar in the city would generate more than $100,000 per year that could be used for economic development which includes tourism.
The City of Union already receives a portion of the statewide 2 percent combination sales tax which also is used for economic development purposes. The county currently also collects its share of that tax plus its one-cent hospitality tax.
The question Gallman proposed to council is whether it would want the city to set up the mechanism to handle the additional funds or let the county collect them. If the county were to collect the additional penny on the dollar it possibly could take over funding things like tourism instead of the city.
The council agreed the idea of implementing the measure could be a good one at this time and asked Gallman how it would be done and the best way to do it. He said he could put the information together and bring it back to council. Thompson also said he would discuss the option with Union County Supervisor Tommy Sinclair.
“I don’t want us to get away from economic development,” the mayor said.
No matter what council members decide on the outside agencies and any alternative funding options, Gallman said the city wants to remain fiscally conservative.
He said there’s not much room to move in the budget now and the city has trimmed costs in previous years without increasing its rates.
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