Durham Reporter

After a run of financial prosperity, Durham policymakers are now making adjustments to projections as the city deals with revenue losses related to COVID-19 to meet a July 1 deadline. 

According to News Observer, the city has fallen from its financially favorable position that was present in March. Policymakers were running a balanced budget and had the money available to repave streets and give employees a 5% pay increase as well as raise taxes to move toward more affordable housing options, but now those measures are on hold. 

The coronavirus pandemic changed the plan for the city’s budget and now Durham policymakers are making changes to their 2020-2021 budget that is due by July 1. 

There is a $12 million gap in the budget and the city manager and budget director recently presented the council members with guidelines given the unanticipated budget issues of the year, according to the publication. The guidelines suggested cuts of programs, delayed tax collections and reducing formerly planned employee pay raises. 

Mayor Steve Schewel said that these measures are necessary to take for the good of the city in the long term. 

“What we are saying here to our community is that we will be considering and we know we will have to have some programs that are discontinued or downsized; that’s a reality that we are going to face,” Schewel said, according to the publication. 

Additionally, policymakers are requesting $5 million to be saved for coronavirus-related expenses, according to the publication. Should the city not need the funds, the $5 million could be returned back to the general fund. 

“Honestly, I am heartbroken about so many things in our community right now,” Schewel said, according to the publication. “Some of these initiatives (the city had been planning) I wish we could do. So many ways in which people are just having to go through such difficult circumstances in their own lives. ... It’s just a very tough time.”