The Chapel Hill town manager presented a very tight budget for the coming fiscal year. As part of covering core services in a time of noticeably lower revenue, he delays for 6 months the 65-cent-per-hour pay raise for the town’s lowest-paid workers that the town committed to in being certified a Living Wage employer. But […]
All posts in category Spending
Are we really #allinthistogether?
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2020
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2020/05/25/are-we-really-allinthistogether/
Late night
I blame the lateness of the hour for someone on the council dais suggesting that a retaining wall designed to mitigate flooding include “breaks” to “engage the street.” The comment came during a concept plan we were asked to review that didn’t being on our overstuffed agenda until after 11:30 p.m. We were all tuckered […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 24, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/24/late-night/
Wealth gap
I say this every year at budget time. Call it my annual screed: A flat percentage salary increase across the whole pay scale widens the wealth gap. The rich get richer, and the poor end up with comparatively less buying power. This year, the town’s 3% across-the-board pay raise will put an extra $900 (before […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 3, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/03/wealth-gap/
The cost of appearances
There we go again. Dipping into our savings to pay for nonessentials. Living beyond our means. Our new town manager presented his recommended budget, a 3.7% increase over what we spent the prior year, which would require only a 1.6-cent property tax increase (per every $100 of property valuation). The hiring process for our town […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 20, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/20/the-cost-of-appearances/
Cost of combating climate change
Town Council gets it: Climate change is real. At our April 17 meeting, we reviewed a draft action plan for reducing our carbon footprint. The plan called for requiring solar panels on 80% of the rooftop area on all development proposals that needed a rezoning to proceed. State law prohibits municipalities from requiring new construction […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 29, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/29/cost-of-combating-climate-change/
R.I.P. DOLRT
If the Orange County commissioners vote at their April 2 meeting to discontinue pursuit of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit line, and Durham County commissioners do likewise (the agenda of their April 8 meeting is not yet online), the crushingly expensive light rail project will be packed away, perhaps for good. After GoTriangle spent $137 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 1, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/01/r-i-p-dolrt/
Generous to a fault
Someone needs to cut up Town Council’s credit card. In recent weeks, our new town manager has been educating council on various aspects of the budget. In our work sessions, he has set the expectation that we will need to authorize a tax increase to cover the cost of all the things we want to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 18, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/18/generous-to-a-fault/
Operating at a loss
The old joke goes that a naïve business owner admitted he lost money on each product sale, but said, “I make up for it in volume.” Chapel Hill town staff are familiar with that business model, and after the Town Council retreat this past weekend, we are, too. We learned that for the past couple […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 28, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/28/operating-at-a-loss/
Learn the History
When I heard Chancellor Folt blithely announce the plans to spend $5.3 million to build a home for a Confederate monument that glorifies the South’s willingness to go to war to preserve slavery, I wondered whether anyone had briefed her on the battle to build the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black History and Culture. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 18, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/12/18/learn-the-history/
Views across the board
When my computer failed last month, I spent a few hours at the Apple Genius Bar, a sort of emergency room for digital devices in distress. As I waited for new software to install itself very slowly, I got to hear snippets of people’s lives as told through their troubled phones and iPads and MacBooks. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on November 19, 2018
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/11/19/views-across-the-board/