In the 2013-14 budget which will be enacted on July 1, the Pride of Kinston saw its funds drop from $105,800 in the previous budget to $86,000. The steep drop in funds has director Adrian King perplexed about the reasoning.
“I had been going to the meetings for eight years and it’s not unusual for city management or the city council to dip into the fund balance for unanticipated costs,” King said. “My question is this: Why couldn’t they do that for us?”
City Manager Tony Sears disagreed with King’s assessment, saying no community organization had a change in money given to them by the city in the new budget. Instead, the Pride of Kinston had been receiving an additional $19,800 by the state, coming from a Transitional Hold Harmless fund which ended last year.
“In 2002, the General Assembly passed legislation repealing taxes given to local government and replaced it with a local option .5 percent sales tax,” Sears said.
According to the legislation, any local government whose estimated revenue from the sales tax is less than 100 percent of the value of their reimbursements would receive the hold harmless provision. If the revenue was equal to or exceeded reimbursements, there wouldn’t be additional money provided.
“The council said at the time, ‘If we receive any Transitional Hold Harmless funds during the 10-year period, we will give the Pride of Kinston a percentage,’ ” Sears said.
The statute lasted for 10 years and ended on Aug. 15, 2012. Although the City of Kinston didn’t have funds coming in from the Transitional Hold Harmless annually, Sears claimed the Pride of Kinston was still taken care of with additional monetary assistance.
“There were years the city didn’t receive Transitional Hold Harmless, yet we gave the Pride of Kinston what they budgeted,” Sears said. “We looked out for them because of the 10-year period, but there was no reasonable expectation for them to see that in 2013 especially with how tight the city budget was this year.”
Besides losing the funds from the Transitional Hold Harmless, the Pride of Kinston will supply an additional $9,000 to its loan repayment. Following that loss of a combined $28,800, there is a 27 percent reduction in the Pride’s budget from last year.
“It seems like the city wants us to do more and more, but with them cutting the budget we may not be able to,” Pride Chairman Shirley Herring said.
The mission of the Pride of Kinston is to lead downtown revitalization in the city, promoting economic development while preserving historical content. The organization has helped in providing citizens and tourists with events throughout downtown, including the popular Sand in the Streets concert series that begins its 10th year next week.
“We’re an economic development engine and have gotten people downtown as both customers and investors for the city,” King said.
Although King acknowledges the 2013-14 budget for the upcoming fiscal year, he still believes more attention and finances should be focused toward the Pride of Kinston.
“I understand times are tight and I understand the city council has a tough job, but there are flexibilities in any budget,” King said.
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @JuniousSmithIII.