Latest news with #EliJamison
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Roanoke City School Board considers using rainy day fund to help with budget shortfall
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Roanoke City School Board discussed using their fund balance, or 'rainy day fund,' to help with their budget shortfall. The schools are looking to make up nearly $7 million of their budget after the city announced plans to give them the same funds as last year. 'This is not a good fiscal use of funds,' said board chair Dr. Eli Jamison at the school board workshop Tuesday. 'This is not what we would've done if we had more than a month to prepare.' She said she was furious about the situation. 'Never in eight years have we put recurring costs on the fund balance use. It is what defines us as fiscal stewards,' she said. Other school board members noted the financial team has worked overtime to come up with a solution. The district is looking at three routes for its budget. The funding they want from the city, level funding and a budget shortfall, or level funding plus the rainy day fund. RCPS's chief financial officer explained potential cuts, even with the rainy day fund, like eliminating seven student support specialists and repurposing elementary Spanish teachers to teach English Learning. RCPS considering possible solutions to high school overcrowding The rainy day fund, or fund balance, is left over money that's been built up at the end of every fiscal year. Right now, there's about $28 million, roughly half of which has to be kept in a reserve. The schools want to use the nearly $13 million remaining to cover its shortfall this year. At Monday night's public hearing in front of City Council, Jamison brought up rumors the city was looking to reclaim the fund balance. Tuesday, several board members echoed concerns saying they hoped it was only a rumor. Mayor Joe Cobb was at Tuesday's school board meeting in addition to councilmember Nick Hagen. WFXR asked Mayor Cobb for a response to the hearsay about the city reappropriating the rainy day fund. He responded 'I have no comment at this time.' The city is faced with a difficult budget of its own. It plans to cut the planned overtime pay increase and won't fund additional requests from social services. The city plans to finalize its budget in May. The school board needs to adopt its final budget in June. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Roanoke residents speak out at public hearings about budget, meals tax, and more
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Roanoke residents were in droves for public hearings Monday night. The crowd spilled into an overflow room as the council heard comments on the proposed city budget, a possible meals tax hike, and a potential raise in real estate tax. The City Manager has said this is a particularly hard budget year, referencing 'challenges and choices' that have to be made. Nearly an hour of public comment was devoted to the city budget and plans to give the city schools 'level funding.' That means the same funding they received last year. Former Council Member Trish White-Boyd stepped up to vouch for the budget plan, saying the city has already shown dedication to education. 'A goal that has required sacrifices such as adjustments in employee compensation, deferred maintenance and postponement of capital improvement projects,' she said. School Board Chair Dr. Eli Jamison made an appearance, noting that she rarely speaks at council meetings. She claimed she'd heard that the city is considering cutting a rainy day fund but argued instead that fund should be used to support schools now. 'We know the challenges are real, but if you sweep the funding balance, Roanoke Schools will have layoffs,' she said. 'We will have larger class sizes. We will not have the funds to finish Preston Park Elementary School.' Former school board member Mark Cathey said, with unpredictable changes at the federal level, this year is not the time to push the district into further cuts. The next largest group of speakers showed up to address a proposed meals tax increase. The city is considering raising it from 5.5% to as high as 7%. Roanoke residents demonstrate downtown during National Day of Protest Keith Liles, owner of Deb's Frozen Lemonade, said the cost of everything has risen for restaurants, from minimum wage to the cost of goods. 'With the current tariffs who knows what lemons will be tomorrow or in the future,' said Liles. He says raising the meals tax means he can't raise prices when his own cost of goods increase. 'The consumer, when they see a hot dog, a lemonade, and a bag of chips cost $6.85 on the menu board, and it comes to $7.75 when I ask for the money, it looks bad on me,' he said. Matt Bullington, who owns Texas Tavern, says the meals tax has been raised several times throughout the restaurant's history. For instance, it was hiked during the financial crisis. 'Every time the city gets in a financial burden or has a financial burden it comes to our industry to help bail them out,' he said. 'Many people are aware the past five years have been the hardest five years in the history of the modern restaurant industry,' he continued. 'I'm not exaggerating that. We've had COVID restrictions, rampant inflation, supply line problems, dislocation of everything.' City Council didn't make any decisions Monday. They're set to adopt a budget May 12. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
