Durham Residents Can Weigh in on the City’s Upcoming Budget

It’s Friday, March 15.

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Welcome to the weekend, readers.

Budget season is underway in Durham. On Monday, March 18, the city council will host the first of two budget public hearings at 7 p.m. during regular meeting hours where residents can share their own budget priorities for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

One of the motivating issues for voters during elections in Durham last fall centered on higher wages for public employees. Many employees did receive one-time bonuses at the end of last year, but a permanent wage increase is likely to return to the forefront as a key item for the next budget.

Transit, affordable housing, and public safety also remain important issues for residents. The INDY reported on Thursday about an open house for the public to weigh in on the potential redesign of Roxboro Street and Mangum Street, two main corridors in downtown Durham that residents in the neighborhood say are built for speed and not safety. Reimagining those roads and potentially others won’t be cheap for the city’s transportation department, but some residents say it’s a necessary cost to protect pedestrians on Durham’s streets.

Last month, the city council voted not to enter into another contract with SoundThinking, the company behind gunfire detection technology ShotSpotter. How will the city council choose to reallocate more than $200,000 that was budgeted for the program? Residents opposed to ShotSpotter called for investment in other public safety and public health programs to help reduce the effects of gun violence. What specific programs will residents suggest?

Last year, residents rallied around two issues: expanding the HEART program and funding a full-time Vision Zero coordinator. Both items were included in the current budget for 2023-2024. While it’s not guaranteed that every outcry from the community will become a line item, getting those items being included in the budget does show that a coordinated community effort is hard to ignore.

Have a great weekend, readers. Get outside!

—Justin

Editor’s note: There was a typo in yesterday’s email. We wrote that “Defendants [in a lawsuit against social media companies] include 14 other North Carolina school districts and 42 attorneys general.” The sentence should have read “Plaintiffs include 14 other North Carolina school districts and 42 attorneys general.”

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