ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Roanoke City Council has trimmed more than $13 million from a nearly $19 million budget shortfall, but about $5.1 million still needs to be cut before a final spending plan is approved.
City leaders say they are trying to balance the budget without raising taxes, even as difficult reductions are proposed across multiple departments.
The city began this budget cycle facing a deficit of nearly $19 million. That gap has been reduced to $5.1 million based on recommendations to:
- Lower annual pay raises for city staff from 3 percent to 2 percent,
- Keep 100-115 positions vacant,
- Leave approximately $5.2 million in department requests unfunded and
- Remove $50.3 million in capital improvement projects over a five-year period to mitigate the additional amount of debt funding that is required to be budgeted.
Additional work must be done to eliminate the remaining $5.1 million gap to facilitate presenting a recommended balanced budget to City Council…