Frank McCourt’s memoir “Angela’s Ashes” shares the experiences of a family that coexists with poverty, not letting it impede them as they live their lives. In one scene, a father is ready to go from Ireland to England to find work to support the family. (Forgive me if I’ve gotten some of the details wrong; […]
All posts in category Budget
Dividing a small pot
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 22, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/03/22/dividing-a-small-pot/
Roger’s job gets tougher
At Monday night’s Town Council meeting, Town Manager Roger Stancil gave his periodic update on the state of the town budget. His PowerPoint presentation showed that the town is way behind in development fees this year from what it expects – some $200,000-plus. So what did the council do? Kill the Charterwood mixed-use project off […]
Posted by Don Evans on February 1, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/02/01/rogers-job-gets-tougher/
The Roger Stancil Show
Town manager Roger Stancil is a completely different person in daylight than he is tucked away at the end of the dais during Town Council meetings at night. As guest speaker at the Friends of Downtown meeting Thursday morning, he was relaxed, gregarious and funny. Stancil referenced signs that have popped up around town since […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 27, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/01/27/the-roger-stancil-show/
Fiscally happy New Year
Town manager Roger Stancil must have eaten his New Year’s Day Hoppin’ John on behalf of the town this year. When Town Council resumes meetings tonight, council members will vote on whether to accept money from several sources. The consent agenda asks council to accept $5,000 from OWASA toward Code Red, a service that notifies […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 9, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/01/09/fiscally-happy-new-year/
New year resolutions?
Council meetings resume one week from tonight. Here’s a glimpse of what may grace the agenda in 2012: Homeless shelter’s Good Neighbor Plan: A Better Site representatives are participating in the meetings, but IFC won’t allow the proceedings to be recorded. A Better Site wants teeth to the plan, consequences if the tenets are violated; […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 2, 2012
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2012/01/02/new-year-resolutions/
Smart shopping has limits
You can’t get Nordstrom quality on a Walmart budget. From town manager Roger Stancil’s finance and economic update last night, a report he promised to deliver monthly until the council’s budget retreat in February, he has trimmed and juggled and stretched the town’s budget with the best of them. And the bare patches are beginning […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 29, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/11/29/smart-shopping-has-limits/
To hope or to plan?
Those of us who watched a fireworks display last night did so on some other taxpayer’s dime. The experience gave us a chance to feel, for 20 minutes or so, like the Orange County taxpayers who want to use our new and improved library for free. Much as I love fireworks, I understand when the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 5, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/07/05/to-hope-or-to-plan/
Moving money
Town manager Roger Stancil has the $62,000 tipping fees expenditure covered. It’s just a matter of moving some numbers around, he said. Turns out the town had planned to pay the county $90,000 this year as part of its share for purchasing greenway land. The town will pay the unexpected tipping fee expenditure from the […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 14, 2011
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2011/06/14/moving-money/
Budget clock is ticking
Time is running out on resident input on the town budget for fiscal 2011. A public forum in April was scheduled by the staff without providing any budget details, which pretty much negated any discussion. Then the Town Council canceled a budget work session planned for May 5. The council has three other work sessions […]
Posted by Don Evans on May 11, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/05/11/budget-clock-is-ticking/
What we can do without
In a comment to my post “Keep the taxman busy” from Thursday, Terri Buckner asked what I would give up in county services. That got me to thinking, which often gets me into trouble. But I came up with a number of items from the fiscal 2010 budget that I believe could be trimmed or […]
Posted by Don Evans on April 26, 2010
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2010/04/26/what-we-can-do-without/