Charlotte City Council eyes budget adjustments after public weighs in

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After hearing public feedback on the $4.5 billion dollar budget, the City of Charlotte is deciding how to adjust the budget to meet community needs. Council members met Monday afternoon to identify at least 14 categories for city staff to explore funding including funding for SAFE Alliance, raises for firefighters comparable to police, and increasing the Housing Trust Fund.

“Well, it’s chaotic and disorganized, but that’s government, right? That’s the fun piece. So it always starts for me with the community, what is it that people say that we need,” At-Large Councilmember Victoria Watlington said.

Charlotte Fire Fighters are asking for a raise comparable to Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. The original budget outlined by the city manager called for 10% raises for police and 7% for fire. Since then, firefighters have been speaking out about why they believe the budget is unfair.

“When you looked at how many hours that they worked per week, when you looked at how their overtime was impacted, depending on the schedules that they worked, that’s what stuck out to me. It said, are we really comparing apples to apples?” Councilmember Watlington siad.

City workers are also asking for a pay raise. Right now, the city manager has proposed a $25 dollar an hour minimum rate and 4% raise based on performance.

“What we were hoping for was 7% pay equity, a 7% raise for everybody across the board. I don’t think that made it so mixed bag, but if we can get them the 4% not tied to performance review, there’s at least a small win,” Robert Dawkins, Action NC Political Director said.

The budget originally cut nearly $400,000 dollars for SAFE Alliance, the leading domestic violence resource center. The majority of council members agreed to explore ways to restore its funding.

“Any ability to continue to offer 24/7 services, as we know, trauma crises doesn’t just happen during business hours so having that funding to support our staff as we’re operating,” Cori Goldstein, Chief Program Officer for SAFE Alliance said.

City staff will spend the next two weeks exploring how to fund some of the priorities from council. Council will return for a straw vote on the budget on June 1st.