The Durham City Council approved its annual budget, including the city's largest property tax increase in at least a decade, at a meeting Monday night. Although an 11th-hour donation from Duke allowed the city to reduce the tax rate hike from an expected 3.88 cents to 3.8, the new figure still represents a 7 percent increase over last year's rate.
In a June 18 letter to City Manager Marcia Conner, President Nan Keohane offered the city $153,500 for specific projects related to police and fire protection (see related story). Of the University's grant, $82,000 went to projects that were already in Durham's budget, freeing up city money for other uses, said Julie Brenman, budget director for the city.
With the extra money, the council restored a 5 percent fund cut to the Durham Arts Council, Downtown Durham Inc. and St. Joseph's Historic Foundation. The rest of the donation went to lowering the tax increase.
About 50 members of the activist group Concerned Citizens for Accountable Government, brandishing large yellow protest signs and filling the back rows of the room, protested the tax hike at Monday's meeting.
"Only you, the City Council, can help to change the perception that our current city government appears incompetent with the taxpayers' dollars. Only you, the City Council, can start to restore taxpayers' trust," said Frank Almendarez, chair of the group.
Concerned Citizens has vocally opposed Conner and has worked to effect her ouster.
Nearly a dozen black community members, including former council member Jackie Wagstaff, voiced their support for Conner, who came under fire for money mismanagement and contract mishandling in November 2002. Conner is up for her annual review July 22.
Conner's proponents argued she inherited the financial problems from her predecessors and accused Concerned Citizens of racial prejudice, noting that most of the members at the meeting were white.
"What you're attempting is wrong," Durham resident Anita Hammonds told Concerned Citizens. "It is unjust, it's unfair and it's racially motivated."
Almendarez acknowledged that Concerned Citizens is working for Conner's resignation, but stressed that the topic Monday night was the budget. "We really want Marcia Conner out of here, but that is not what our attention is tonight," he said after the meeting.
Concerned Citizens also submitted a petition with what it claims are 7,000 voters' signatures calling for Conner's dismissal.
The council did not address Conner's status at all Monday night, and the budget passed in a 5-2 vote, with council members John Best and Thomas Stith dissenting.
The $281.5 million budget also includes $70,000 that could potentially go to the Durham YMCA. The community recreational facility cannot access that money, however, without city administrative approval.
City officials have objected to the YMCA's definition of family as a household headed by a male-female union. Until earlier this year, the YMCA offered the family membership rate to same-sex couples and their families, but after a merger with the YMCA of the Triangle in Raleigh the organization altered its policy to grant only heterosexual couples the family rate, a decision the organization says is in keeping with the state definition of family.
If the YMCA and the city do not reach a consensus, the money earmarked for the organization will likely go to the Parks and Recreation Department.
Stith objected to the strings attached to the YMCA money, which the city has historically given the non-profit organization. "I think it's wrong to penalize the Y for following state law," he said.
Duke is currently in parallel discussions with the YMCA, and the continuation of a long-standing partnership between the YMCA and the University hinges on their ability to reach an agreement about the application of family rates. Officials from the two groups will meet with the intention of resolving the issue before June 28.
IN OTHER BUSINESS:
The council approved 6-1 (with Best dissenting) the revisions to the impact fee guidelines that lowered Duke's bill to the city from $1.4 million for the construction of 10 buildings to $804,000 for 14 buildings. The University had sparred with the city over the formula for the development fees for several months before the two reached an agreement last week.
University officials said Duke plans to conduct a traffic study in order to measure the impact of recent construction on campus, then file for a further reduction of the fees.
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