In fact, the board's ire was such that it included a threat to replace department heads who failed to rein in spending.
“It’s like we ask for things and its taken as a joke," Councilman Herbert Rainer said during budget talks this week. “You can do what we ask, or your replacement can ... The budget that we viewed tonight did not satisfy the requirements of city council.”
Herbert and several of his fellow council members expressed anger at what they said appeared to be a bloated budget in tough economic times. The current budget draft for next year is for $7.87 million.
Rainer said he has requested that spending drop by 5 percent, but the figure presented was closer to 1.3 percent.
Councilman Curtis Leak agreed.
“We’ve been operating for the past 10 years as a Cadillac,” Councilman Curtis Leak said. “Now we are a Volkswagen.
“If we were a private sector, there would be some heads that were rolling because our revenues aren’t up.”
leak also questioned why the city is spending more than the county on law enforcement. The proposed public safety budget makes up 48.68 percent of General Fund expenditures.
“This budget has got to go, because we ain’t raising no taxes,” Leak said.
The city's tax rate is 42 cents per every $100 of valuation.
Councilman Tommy Parker took exception to the discrepancy between last year's budget and the actual expenditures. The estimated actual expenditure for the current fiscal year is $7.41 million, a difference of more than half a million dollars, .
Parker said he was concerned that council raised taxes by three cents — a move that he says appears to have been unnecessary.
Council members decided to hold off on taking any action, instead asking department heads to bring more information to the table at the next budget meeting, scheduled for Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.
"The message from council to staff was loud and clear, that times are tough and the city has to tighten its belt in order to achieve several objectives; keeping the city tax rate low, maintaining the current level of services, avoiding layoffs and at the same time being able to fund projects that are important for the city's growth."Mayor Matthew Block said after the meeting.
“For the city to go on oblivious to what is going on in the world will not fly.”
But the mayor also said the city employees were doing a good job.
"We need to be fair ... Overall, I would like to congratulate city staff for coming in under budget while keeping a high customer satisfaction,” Block said. “At the same time, there are probably 10 people standing in line [for each city job] and every employee should realize that.”
While taking no action, the council took aim at a number of sources of city expenses, including reevaluating the benefits policy. Council members also had Human Resources Director Bob Bell explain retirement benefits, with a particular eye towards the 401K contributions.
"The retirement system was established by the General Assembly back in 1945," Bell said. "The treasurer sends out a letter once a year how much the city has to contribute."
He said the city usually contributes about 5 percent of a worker's salary to retirement, while the employees contribute about 6 percent.
Bob stressed that this was mandated by the state, so there is no leeway for the city to reduce this amount.
"All local governments contribute 5 percent to law enforcement officers," Bell said, noting that it was a state requirement.
He said that, when this was mandated by the state, most cities also decided to contribute 5 percent of other employees' salaries to 401K plans to make the benefits consistent. Laurinburg was among those cities.
Rainer requested city staff look into how much the city was paying in these contributions that were not mandated by the state.
According to Cindy Carpenter, the city’s financial director, the city contributes $237,991 to 401K plans outside of law enforcement.
Bell told the council to use discretion on this issue if they pursue cutting 401K contributions.
"There are legal issues that could arise from stripping benefits," Bell said. He advised that council should consult the city attorney before making any decisions.
After the meeting, Rainer said he just wanted more information on the contributions.
"We are looking at all of our expenses, including the 401K," Rainer said.
Council members also questioned city staff on lot cuttings and the unpaid fees associated with the practice.
Lot cutting is a city practice whereby, when a property owner allows their yard to get overgrown and fails to take action after complaints from neighbors, the city mows the lawn at the owner’s expense.
Stacey McQuage, head of public works, explained that the city fines people three times for a mowing, as it is preceded by two inspections of the yard to verify the yard is overgrown and that the owner is not doing anything about it.
Approximately $153,000 in bad debts associated with lot cutting has accumulated since the practice started in 2003. That total represents 510 invoices.
The city budget plans for $5,000 to be collected in the coming year for lot cuttings.
When asked by council, Stacey McQuage said it definitely cost more than $5,000 a year to cut the lots.
“When we first talked about lot cutting, we knew it would be an issue to collect,” said Carpenter.
She said the city tax collector handles collecting the fees, including through attaching the fees to property taxes and garnishing wages.
Carpenter added that wage garnishment is difficult, however, as it is dependent on knowing the current address of people who owe the city money. Most of the $153,000 owed represents delinquent property owners who haven’t been to Laurinburg or seen their property in years.
Beyond this, the city can foreclose on some properties, but Carpenter said the city must exercise caution with this approach. The process of foreclosing can cost more than a property is worth, meaning the city can lose money when it tries to collect.
Carpenter said the city was ahead of its $5,000 forecast for this year. It has collected $5,800 and expects to have $6,300 by June 30.
Rainer suggested the council members begin receiving monthly updates on delinquent payments, pointing to Schoollink, which is $96,755.94 behind on payments to the city for use of the fiber infrastructure.
Block questioned the $80.352 contribution in next year's budget for the Scotland County Humane Society, an amount that is matched by the county.
“I don’t understand why city residents are paying twice for that service,” Block said.
“I am not suggesting we slash the whole thing, but we shouldn’t have to pay for it twice. Are city residents getting any enhanced services?”
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