Interested in sharing your views and ideas on what Durham's budget priorities should be in the next year? It's time for Coffee with Council, your annual chance to give feedback to Durham's elected officials and chief staff.
Not that you should get your hopes up too much -- or at all -- for massive new, unplanned investments. As City Councilman Eugene Brown pointed out in a recent email to Council calling for a willingness to make hard choices, "with only 19% of our budget in operations and 60/65% in staff, you do not need a PhD in math to figure out were we will be forced to make cuts." Brown suggested in his missive the idea of targeted pay reductions for higher-earning staff over layoffs -- a notion that Kelly Jarrett of Old West Durham has circulated on local listservs, too.
Like the idea? Don't? You've got five chances to speak up; one linked to each PAC district, but citizens can attend any or all of the meetings:
- Saturday, February 14, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Irwin R. Holmes, Sr., Recreation Center at Campus Hills, 2000 South Alston Ave.
- Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Eastway Elementary School, 610 Alston Avenue.
- Monday, March 9, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Durham Public School Resource Center, 2107 Hillandale Road.
- Thursday, March 12, 2009, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Council Committee Room, Second Floor of City Hall, 101 City Hall Plaza.
- Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, 1309 Halley St.
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