With the possibility of no payments from Lafayette Gatling on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre, city council must consider deep cuts in the capital outlay budget.

“It’s still the same draft budget we’re working with, with no large changes,” City Manager Paul Sabiston said during a budget work session today. “We’re having to pick up a lot more debt with the theater.”

The theater has not come back into the city’s control, Sabiston said following the session, but with a decision last week finding Gatling in default and ending his lease to buy contract with the city, Roanoke Rapids is expected to lose around $74,000 a month and must make a large balloon payment in July of more than $600,000.

Sabiston has said, however, the city has a theater reserve fund this year.

Still, the possibility of not having that income calls for cuts.

For council’s benefit today, a spreadsheet was presented with items strongly considered not being funded highlighted in green.

Some of the larger items being considered for cutting include a $30,000 city hall generator, Old Farm Road rehabilitation, alley improvements, resurfacing of city owned  parking lots and the annual resurfacing project. Other items considered for cutting include replacing three leaf machines along with swivel replacement for the city’s ladder truck.

“I think the one to me that is most difficult is the swivel replacement,” Sabiston said during the work session. “We need to look at that hard.”

The swivel is the biggest budget concern in the fire department, Chief Gary Corbet said during an earlier budget session. In his budget notes Corbet said the swivel operating the turntable of the aerial ladder “is worn to a point of possible failure. This failure may occur at any time when we have raised the ladder.”

The manufacturer — KME — says the piece may fail the next time it is used or it may last two to three years.

Sabiston said following the session he was leaning to leave that in the capital outlay budget.

Public Works Director Richard Parnell explained the generator situation. “What we’re being told by the person who inspects it, it is putting out dirty electricity. When the generator kicks on it’s not accepting dirty power.”

That tainted power causes computers to go down. “We’ve talked about rebuilding them,” Parnell said, adding constant rebuilding decreases the effectiveness. “You don’t need them until you need them. You lose a lot when you don’t have power.”

Sabiston told council later in the session, “Green does not mean cut out, it’s under heavy consideration for being cut out. Capital was certainly the victim.”