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Norfolk — Norfolk’s City Council unanimously passed an annual budget Tuesday for the next fiscal year that includes $40 million in spending cuts amid lingering uncertainty over the impacts of the coronavirus.
The budget projects continued closures of most, if not all, libraries and rec centers, as well as a major scaling back of new capital projects and even more furloughs for city staff.
City Manager Chip Filer has said the cuts he’s proposed represent the worst-case scenario for Norfolk, based on projections of tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues lost while businesses remain closed due to the ongoing pandemic.
Filer described the spending plan as a “budget of shared sacrifice” last week at a work session where the council finally got a good look at the specific cuts that will touch virtually all areas of the city budget, as well as outside organizations that rely on city funding.
More than $18 million cost reductions come from staffing — continued furloughs of hundreds of part-time employees, new furloughs for 89 full-time employees and the elimination of more than 100 vacant positions.
“This hurts. There’s no question. Closing a $40 million gap is impossible just simply off of refraining from discretionary spending. The personnel aspect of this is very real,” Filer said on May 12 when presenting the details of his revised spending plan.
All non-essential full-time city staff will also be expected to take five furlough days — the equivalent of a temporary 2% pay cut — during the fiscal year, which begins July 1.
City employees will also take on the increased cost of medical insurance, which the city had initially planned to shoulder itself. That will let the city keep more than half a million dollars, while each city employee is required to shell out an average of $280 more this year.
Those employees who are furloughed long-term belong to the libraries and city rec centers, which have been closed since March due to the coronavirus shutdown orders.
Things continue to be hazy on exactly what reopening looks like for those facilities — and thus, for the return of those furloughed employees.
In discussions over the last few weeks, the plan seems to be to reopen the city’s three anchor branch libraries (Jordan-Newby, Mary D. Pretlow and Slover), along with five recreation centers. Filer told the council Tuesday he plans to lay out a roadmap for reopening at a meeting in June, but noted the progression of the virus and guidance from state and health officials will ultimately determine what happens.
“We’re really working under the assumption … that there are going to be some very strict guidelines if not maintaining closures of those facilities,” Filer said on May 12.
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Many city departments saw cuts as well, though a few — Fire-Rescue, Human Services and the Community Services Board — were untouched.
Filer’s revised budget also slashed the city’s planned capital spending for the year from $124 million to $48 million, including pushing back the planned $50 million renovation of Chrylser Hall. The trimmed plan sticks to what Filer referred to as “core capital needs”: schools maintenance, keeping up streets, bridges and traffic signals, the city’s fleet of vehicles and continued upgrades to city technology.
It also includes time-sensitive projects like a new data center, which has to move out of the Granby municipal building that the city sold last year, and the passenger boarding bridge at the cruise ship terminal, which the city said in a contract with Carnival it would have up and running within two years.
Filer reminded council members he’ll be monitoring tax revenue and plans to come back to the council in November to assess whether the city has enough money to lessen the cuts he’s proposed.
Despite the tough cuts, several council members lauded Filer’s efforts on his first budget outing as city manager.
“I feel very confident in having an economist as our city manager right now,” Andria McClellan said before Tuesday’s vote.
Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com