The city’s fund balance has improved since council took drastic measures late last fiscal year to keep its savings account from dropping below an 8 percent threshold.

Council received the news tonight from Interim City Manager Pete Connet and released a press statement making the announcement.

“Had we not had any reserves we would be in dire straits,” Connet told council at its meeting.

At the end of the 07-08 fiscal year the fund balance was at $416,000, Connet said, which meant a savings balance at 8.3 percent of expenditures.

Measures taken by council when the city learned in February it faced a $664,000 shortfall mean when it closed the books at the end of June, its fund balance increased 8.9 percent for a total of 17.2 percent. That represents a $1.9 million unreserved fund balance, the press statement said. Fund revenues for the year are expected to increase by more than $900,000.

The news does not mean the city can go on a spending spree, Connet said. “The city is still not out of the woods,” he said, explaining the Local Government Commission likes to see the percentage for city’s Roanoke Rapids' size at 30 percent or more.

There are also no guarantees the state, to fix its budget woes, won’t take money from cities, the interim manager explained.

Two things state legislators are eyeing are ABC revenues and eliminating privilege license fees, which would mean a total loss of $150,000 to the city, Connet said. There have been indications the privilege license fees will go back to the state, he said.

The news also doesn’t mean any positions cut to make up for the shortfall can be refilled, Connet said.

The city cut a public works sanitation worker, two street worker I positions, property maintenance worker I position and a preventive maintenance specialist. An administrative assistant I position was made a part-time position.

Cuts were also made within the Planning Department. The city laid off a planner, an administrative assistant II, a part-time administrative assistant I and a code enforcement officer.

An administrative assistant was let go within city administration and part-time positions throughout the city were cut to balance the shortfall.

The city also enacted furloughs for all employees to deal with the shortfall.

Mayor Drewery Beale thanked department heads for the decisions they had to make during the crisis. “We’re certainly not out the woods yet and we’re not going to start spending either.”

Beale said following the meeting, “It took us making hard decisions we drew criticism on and took department heads doing more with less. The fund balance has been a big issue. We have shown the public we can bring it back to where it was.”

Rezoning matter

In another matter tonight council accepted the recommendation of the planning board to turn down a rezoning request submitted by businessman Mike Davis to rezone 6.62 acres of land at the end of Downs Brook Drive to multi-family housing. The decision by council was unanimous.

The following was posted yesterday on Facebook by Anthony Finney and is edited for style:

As most of the Roanoke Valley and Southeast, Va., area knows, Dylan Moore was an 8-year-old boy who was battling a rare blood disease known as Fanconi Anemia.

Over this past weekend “young Dylan lost his battle and went home to God. I never knew Dylan personally, but his strength is beyond that of any grown man I have ever known or heard of. He inspired an entire town, a county, even a region of North Carolina and Virginia to love, believe, hope, and care,” Finney noted. “And for this, I believe the city of Roanoke Rapids should recognize the courage that this young man displayed by honoring him with a city-wide, annual, Dylan Moore Day. Join me in this task to never let the memory of young Dylan fade from our thoughts.”

Contact Info: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Web site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dylan

It was noted at the Web site there will be an informal memorial service for Dylan today at 3:30 p.m. in the Meditation Place on the 7th floor of the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital where the boy was being treated. 

During the month of May the Halifax County Sheriff's Office received reports of several residential breaking and enterings in the Hollister area. 

According to a press release, Detective Rich Somogyi investigated the crimes, which resulted in the arrest of several subjects in the area and the recovery of the stolen property. 

Further investigation led to the recovery of an auto transport trailer concealed in the woods in the Hollister area. 

The trailer was previously reported stolen from a company in the Richmond, Va., area. 

The investigation led to the Monday arrest of Jan Lynch, 42, of Hollister. 

Lynch was placed in the Halifax County Jail under a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 17. 

A 31-year-old Roanoke Rapids man was charged Sunday in a breaking, entering and larceny in the Colonial Drive area of Roanoke Rapids.

Lt. Bobby Martin of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release shortly after midnight Sunday Deputy Joe Sealy received a breaking and entering call.

When the deputy arrived he noticed a 36-inch television sitting in the front yard with a blanket on top and a VCR sitting by the road along with a navy blue pillowcase.

While at scene a witness approached Deputy Sealy and told the officer he saw someone he knew carrying items from the victim’s house. 

The witness said when the suspect saw him he quickly went back to his house.

Deputy Sealy learned the victim was on vacation and noticed the side door glass was broken out and the door damaged. 

When Deputy Sealy looked inside several items were turned over.

The deputy talked to the suspect, James Michael Doughten, who came to the door sweating profusely. Deputy Sealy saw two navy blue pillowcases on the couch, which matched the ones in the victim’s yard, Martin said in the news release.

With assistance from Deputy Corey Griffin, Sealy spoke to Doughten, who allegedly told the officers he was responsible for the breaking and entering. 

Deputy Sealy charged Doughten with breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, two counts of possession of stolen goods, larceny of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and injury to real property,

Doughten was jailed on $25,000 bond and has a Sept. 30 court date.

This case was solved, Martin said, because of neighbors looking out for one another. “The witness coming forward and assisting Deputy Sealy really aided him in finding the person responsible for this breaking and entering,” he said in the news release.

Joshua Rouse, charged in the June murder of an Applebee’s manager, was transported to Central Prison in Raleigh over the weekend after he allegedly cut an inmate in the Halifax County Jail.

Lt. Bobby Martin of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office told The Spin this morning Rouse, a former employee of the restaurant, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

The cutting occurred after Rouse, 22, asked an inmate for his soup. The inmate gave Rouse his soup but refused to give him the crackers which accompanied the meal, Martin said.

Rouse became angry and cut the inmate in the face with a homemade blade. The inmate received stitches in his left eye brow, bridge of his nose and inside of his lip.

Rouse was in the Halifax County Jail awaiting an appearance on a first-degree murder and armed robbery charge in the stabbing and cutting death of Sandy Denise Riedel, who worked at the restaurant on Premier Boulevard since October.

Riedel died from multiple cut and stab wounds inside the restaurant. Rouse was arrested three days later

The Roanoke Rapids Police Department has said there is evidence indicating a robbery motive because some money was apparently missing.

Rouse has a previous criminal record  and was released from prison last May after he was convicted on Jan. 20, 2004, for attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Those offenses occurred on July 13, 2003, in Roanoke Rapids. They stem from an assault on Jefferson Street in which a victim was attacked by three to five people.

The victim was hit in the face by his assailants, who demanded money as he was stabbed in the legs. Witnesses scared the attackers away and Rouse was later arrested.

Rouse, a South Carolina native, is a member of the United Blood Nation and has the Blood symbol of three paw prints branded on his right shoulder.

Rouse was schedule to appear in Halifax County District Court today on the jail charge and Aug. 26 for the murder and robbery charges stemming from Riedel’s death.