INC NEWS - Column: City cuts would hurt arts scene in Durham (Herald-Sun)

[RW Pickle]

There's a whole lot more to this funding cut than meets the eye. I
represent INC on the CCIP that looks at the projects our City
needs/wants/or must do by law. This year there were  more than $147M worth
of projects and only $30M to get anything done with. So it becomes a
matter of priority (or mandated law) that some get done before others (or
get funded as it is some cases).

We worked for an entire year developing a scoring system for projects.
This way, as a group (because in total there are 26 citizens supposedly
representing a bunch of different groups from our City; realistically
there are probably less than 10 of us who regularly attend meetings), we
could easily and quickly compare apples to apples. The City Budget and
Finance Office also has their own scoring system they used for years. But
as one might think, what citizens might find important, the administration
might not.

So this year, with our first scoring opportunity (and very little to work
with$ wise), there was only enough funding to deal with the first 20
projects that scored the most. And when the Administration did their
scoring, 17 of the top 20 projects the citizens came up with were the
same. So one could draw the conclusion that we're all pretty much on the
same wavelength when it comes to what has/needs/wants to be done. But that
doesn't answer the problem of what to do about the other $100M+ of things
we didn't even get to consider because there just wasn't enough money in
the first place to fund them.

Between the City/County, we're looking (at least right now) at a $.15
increase (per $100 evaluation; and our recent evaluation just makes the
number we pay higher). Realistically, we probably need a $.45-$.60 per
$100 just to begin to get caught up. There's just not enough money to do
everything that is needed/wanted to be done. That's the bottom line.

This coming year we are going to try to establish the first-ever-time-line
into the future so we can plan on funding (versus debt load) projects that
just never make it to the top of the list. It doesn't mean we don't
need/want them, it just means there are other things that have to be done
that require the funding we currently generate. How successful we will be
at delivering this down-the-road projection is yet to be known. But at
least with a plan, we should be able to begin to see some light at the end
of the tunnel...

I don't see anything getting better in the short term. We are just so far
behind, catching up is going to be a struggle. Both in manpower and
funding. We are short on both...

RWP
27 Beverly