By a 3-2 vote tonight, council sent the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year back to the city manager to trim some $350,000 from the financial plan.

The action was done on a motion by Councilman Ernest Bobbitt, citing the General Assembly's decision last week to shelve a proposal pitched by city council for a referendum which would allow voters in Roanoke Rapids to decide if they wanted a 1 cent sales tax to pay for theater debt.

Council members Suetta Scarbrough and Carl Ferebee sided with Bobbitt while Greg Lawson and Ed Liverman voted against the measure.

The action tonight sets up a meeting next Tuesday at 6 p.m., one which City Manager Paul Sabiston said could a lengthy one, to go over the budget after numerous work sessions have been held on the matter.

While in his motion Bobbitt asked for $350,000 in cuts, he also asked for longevity pay to be put in the plan at 100 percent and code enforcement merit pay to be put in at 100 percent, moves that will leave the budget in the black, he said.

When first questioned by Lawson on what cuts he had in mind, Bobbitt was evasive and Lawson responded, “I don't have a crystal ball to know what you're thinking.”

Ferebee said the city manager could look at capital items.

Lawson said council needed some firm ideas to keep from appearing wishy-washy and to give the city manager some direction.

Bobbitt then said there were several vehicle requests from the fire, public works and parks and recreation departments that could be cut, along with dump trucks and outsourcing auto repair and grass cutting that would trim about $263,000 from the plan. He said there were items within the recreation department such as scoreboards, benches and other equipment that could be delayed.

Liverman said the cuts would have to be distributed fairly and equitably across all departments. “I'd hate to see $350,000 in cuts put on the backs of our departments and children. I just want this to be an equitable and fair process.”

Said Lawson: “It's unfortunate the theater is driving the decisions here.”

Mayor Emery Doughtie suggested council look at not taking any pay, which save the city $56,000. “I do feel like before we take any services away, the citizens want us to take up some of the slack.”

Ferebee said, however, he believes the citizens don't want to see council do their jobs for nothing. He said in the last month council has had 20 meetings, which equals time away from family and two to three hours away from work.

Sabiston told council to prepare for a meeting next Tuesday in which they would go over the budget item by item.

He said he doesn't agree with the changes suggested.

After the meeting he said, “I'm going to review it to the extent I can. I'm going to make the recommendation I feel is appropriate.”

Sabiston said he already disagrees with putting longevity and merit pay back in the budget. He also said the city getting the opportunity to have a referendum on the sales tax was a long shot. “This budget stands on its own without a 1 cent sales tax … We've been working on this for four months. The sales tax was a recent development.”