As the new year commences for the Durham City Council, members are looking back on their accomplishments in 2008 and the looming economic problems ahead.
In the past year, Durham has completed a range of successful projects, with the newly finished Durham Performing Arts Center topping the list, Mayor Bill Bell said. DPAC, which opened in November 2008, took eight years to complete and was a project City Council members hoped would improve the downtown Durham area, he said.
"The Durham Performing Arts Center is one of the largest theaters between [Washington, D.C.,] and Atlanta, which opened very successfully in November and has continued to be a success," Bell said.
Another large-scale project the City Council has undertaken is the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan, proposed by the Transportation Advisory Committee, said City Council member Mike Woodard. The plan, which was developed in spring 2008 after more than a year of research, recommends widening highways and opening a light rail by 2025 that would travel from Chapel Hill to Durham and on to other areas in the Triangle.
Funding for current and upcoming projects will be dependent on Durham's new city budget, which will be set June 30 and is expected to reach $120 million, said Kim Simpson, tax administrator for Durham County. The budget is composed mostly of sales tax and property tax.
"We've already seen that our revenue is lower than our projections," Woodard said. "The question is, can we delay spending on some projects or will we have to cut spending on some of our other budget items?"
City Council member Eugene Brown suggested that a possible way to receive funds would be to increase a local vehicle fee from $10 to $15. Compared to cities such as Charlotte, which charges $25, Durham charges a substantially lower amount for car registration, he said.
"It's almost painless because we could raise $750,000, which would still put us lower than other major cities," he said. "We could put that into our Durham Authority Transit System."
City Council members will be looking at the new sales and property tax numbers as they come in. For the time being, Bell said City Council members will keep close watch on their spending.
"What we have been doing is monitoring our expenses carefully to try to make sure that we don't run a deficit," said Bell.
Brown also emphasized a need to have all projects on the table and for cuts to be made across the board within the council. This would include cuts in some City Council departments and also layoffs.
"There should be no sacred cows grazing in the pasture of city government, everything should be open for potential cuts," he said.
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