Changes made to North Little Rock's proposed 2021 budget will provide an additional $15,000 in assistance to food programs across the city.
City Finance Director Ember Strange presented the City Council with a second draft of the proposed budget earlier this week, which included a $76,473 decrease in assistance to Rock Region Metro.
"We got the first budget draft from Central Arkansas Transit a month or so," Strange said in an interview Tuesday. "They worked on their budget figures and that led to our contribution going down once they finalized their numbers."
Strange presented the City Council with the first draft of the proposed budget earlier this month that outlined expenditures from 2020 and the proposed budget and expenditures for 2021.
The budget is expected to be finalized at the next City Council meeting in December.
Strange said the decrease in funding to Central Arkansas Transit helped offset some of the increases in the budget, including the additional funding to food programs.
City Council member Debi Ross requested earlier this month increasing the food program budget from $20,000 to $35,000 because food pantries are having a hard time keeping up with demand. She originally suggested taking the $15,000 from the mayor's contingency fund, but the council rejected that idea after a brief discussion.
"I just wouldn't mind raising the amount by $15,000 instead of touching the mayor's contingency fund," Mayor Joe Smith said during the Nov. 9 budget meeting. "The question then becomes what programs do we give the funding to, and will this change our formula in any way?"
Councilwoman Beth White said the funding should only go to food pantries that have been open during the pandemic.
Strange said Tuesday details on food program assistance haven't been nailed down yet.
"Anyone we have given money to like this would have to fill out an application for the funds, so we don't just pay them," she said.
Strange said some of the other changes included moving money around for improvements to Fire Station 5 and roads near McCain Mall, as well as roof repairs to the North Little Rock Community Center located on Willow Street.
"There weren't a lot of major changes," Strange said.
The first draft of the proposed budget predicted that revenue for the city's general fund is expected to increase from $72,061,425 in 2020 to $74,236,435 in 2021. Expenditures for 2021 also are expected to increase, from $72,059,178 in 2020 to $74,236,435.
The numbers haven't been finalized, and changes are expected to come as money is moved around.
The Parks Department has been one of the hardest-hit departments during the pandemic, and the 2021 budget factors in some losses in revenue.
Strange said Parks Department funding factors into the food and services tax, the lodging tax, the food service tax and the Advertising and Promotions food service tax.
Normally, she said, the Parks Department receives 70% of the Advertising and Promotions tax and the North Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission receives 30%, but the pandemic forced a change.
"Since [the Advertising and Promotion Commission] has been hit so hard from covid, they met with us and requested 50% of the tax instead of 30%," Strange said previously. "This lowered the projections for what Parks would receive by $385,000, but on top of that the rest of the tax money from lodging and food services is projected to come in lower."
Strange said the Parks Department fund will see a loss of $895,000.
To offset some of those losses, Strange said, the city plans to transfer $430,000 from the general fund to the Parks Department fund. The department also is cutting all part-time salaries by 15%, and operating expenses have been cut by 10%.