Sabrina and I did a live show this morning on the Special Meeting held by the Board of Alderman last night. At the meeting Mr. Outlaw introduced his plan to reduce your electric bill by 5% ($8.00/month) by doing a hiring freeze. Outlaw said that there are 41 unfilled positions now and that if the city froze those positions it could save $1.8 million dollars a year. Alderman Kinsey, then said; we can save $1.8 million a year and we don’t have to lay off employees? All the aldermen cheered, except Bernard White, who disagreed with the policy.

The facts are:

1. Reducing your electric bill by 5% will cost the city $3.3 million dollars, and will save the average citizen $8.00/month, and the city will have to find new revenue sources to cover the $3.3 million dollar deficit it plans on creating.

2. The $3.3 million dollar deficit, will come out of the general fun. The general fund is the account which pays for police, fire, public works, parks and recreation.

3. The Outlaw says he can make up that $3.3 million dollar deficit by freezing 41 jobs. That statement is misleading at best. Of the 41 jobs he plans on freezing, 17 are paid for from the general fund. If those 17 jobs are frozen, it will save $500k. The jobs he plans on freezing are 9 police, 3 public works, 4 parks and rec and 1 other one. Offers have been extended to 5 of those potential employees.

4. The five hundred thousand in savings you get when you stop hiring essential workers, will not cover the $3.3 million dollar deficit the city will be in from lowering the electric rates. The city will have to come up with $2.7 million more to cover that deficit.

5. The only way to come up with that type of money is to 1. raise taxes by 47%, from .41 cents to .60 cents, and the city will not do that, so if Outlaw is to accomplish his goal he must cut city employees. The only department with a budget large enough to make up the money Outlaw needs, is the police department, and the estimate is that it will need to be cut by 30% to make up the deficit.

6. The meeting was packed last night with police officers who are rightfully concerned about their jobs. One police officer told me, as he was leaving the meeting, “this mayor wants to turn downtown New Bern into Downtown Kinston, because that is what is going to happen if you start cutting cops.”

This is the future of our city. if you don’t start talking now, you will be crying later. Call your aldermen. Call the Mayor. Be respectful and do not threaten.