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Facing a tight budget year and a $9 million shortfall due to unexpected property tax appeals, the city of Durham came close to slashing nearly $1 million in funding for partner organizations to help make ends meet.
After City Manager Bo Ferguson proposed the funding cuts to help offset a budget deficit, the community pushed back at City Hall. The city now plans to dip into its savings to restore $770,576 in the budget, which the City Council will vote on June 15.
Ferguson released a proposed budget on May 18 that would have eliminated $927,323 in funding to eight partner organizations. These included the West End Community Foundation (WECF) at Lyon Park and the Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) program. At the time, Ferguson pointed to a “one-time surge in successful property tax appeals” that resulted in the city having less revenue than the year before.
Nonprofit leaders and beneficiaries rallied around organizations facing cuts, packing the City Council meeting room on June 1 during the budget discussion.
“We all have heard the outcry, particularly around Lyon Park and some of the community groups that we have proposed funding cuts to,” Councilmember Shanetta Burris told the INDY. “And then we discussed in detail their value-adds to the community. It just didn’t seem like a good moment to cut that.”
To find the funding—which ranges from $2,700 for Little League baseball to $245,000 for legal assistance—the city is pulling from its fund balance, which is a pool of savings reserved for emergencies. A spokesperson for the city said taking from the fund balance is a one-time fix, and the city will have to reevaluate next year whether funding to these organizations can continue.
The city plans to restore full funding to seven of the organizations and will restore half of its funding to the Durham County district attorney’s office, which had faced the largest cut initially proposed.
The funding cuts, released in the proposed budget just six weeks before the start of the fiscal year, blindsided some of the organizations’ leaders. The city received notice of tax revenue projections later than usual, requiring the city manager to adjust the proposed budget quickly and without advance notice to affected organizations, the spokesperson said.
“It was morally wrong for organizations who have been partnering with the city to get a notification that within a month’s time, they would have no more funding coming in,” Mayor Leonardo Williams told the INDY.
Emily Mistr, a project director who works with the DEAR program, said she is relieved to hear the city will maintain its $245,000 in funding. The program helps Durhamites restore suspended driver’s licenses and clear charges and convictions from their criminal records.
“If we are going to need to find extra funding or additional funding for a future period, at least we have a runway to do that now,” Mistr said.
