City invites citizen input on budget

LAURINBURG — The City of Laurinburg will be opening its doors to public input on the upcoming budget year prior to the next business meeting.

“It’s budget time. We’re starting internally. We always kind of like to do a first-budget meeting retreat,” City Manager Charles Nichols said.

The Laurinburg City Council will hear suggestions from Laurinburg residents and businesses on how to allocate the 2024-25 spending plan at a combined Citizens Input Session and Budget Retreat scheduled to be held from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, before the 6 p.m. council meeting.

“It’s kind of always hit and miss how much input we get from the citizens but we want to have that opportunity,” Nichols said.

Laurinburg residents also have the option of submitting input directly to the city manager, Nichols said.

Setting a time for the meeting, prompted Councilmember Mary Jo Adams to suggest a separate standalone alone meeting to present information on the city’s plans for a recycling center to take the place of curbside recycling.

“I think people would understand, our citizens would understand a lot better about what we’re doing … I think it’s important enough to standalone since it’s a major change from what we’ve done since the early 1990s,” Adams said.

“What we saw was eyeopening but there are going to be people who, if we do make a major change, I think are going to be really upset,” City Councilman Andrew Williamson said, emphasizing the need for a special meeting.

The Council agreed to postpone setting the meeting for the February Council meeting.