Roanoke residents speak out at public hearings about budget, meals tax, and more
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Roanoke residents were in droves for public hearings Monday night. The crowd spilled into an overflow room as the council heard comments on the proposed city budget, a possible meals tax hike, and a potential raise in real estate tax.
The City Manager has said this is a particularly hard budget year, referencing 'challenges and choices' that have to be made.
Nearly an hour of public comment was devoted to the city budget and plans to give the city schools 'level funding.' That means the same funding they received last year. Former Council Member Trish White-Boyd stepped up to vouch for the budget plan, saying the city has already shown dedication to education.
'A goal that has required sacrifices such as adjustments in employee compensation, deferred maintenance and postponement of capital improvement projects,' she said.
School Board Chair Dr. Eli Jamison made an appearance, noting that she rarely speaks at council meetings. She claimed she'd heard that the city is considering cutting a rainy day fund but argued instead that fund should be used to support schools now.
'We know the challenges are real, but if you sweep the funding balance, Roanoke Schools will have layoffs,' she said. 'We will have larger class sizes. We will not have the funds to finish Preston Park Elementary School.'
Former school board member Mark Cathey said, with unpredictable changes at the federal level, this year is not the time to push the district into further cuts.
The next largest group of speakers showed up to address a proposed meals tax increase. The city is considering raising it from 5.5% to as high as 7%.
Roanoke residents demonstrate downtown during National Day of Protest
Keith Liles, owner of Deb's Frozen Lemonade, said the cost of everything has risen for restaurants, from minimum wage to the cost of goods.
'With the current tariffs who knows what lemons will be tomorrow or in the future,' said Liles.
He says raising the meals tax means he can't raise prices when his own cost of goods increase.
'The consumer, when they see a hot dog, a lemonade, and a bag of chips cost $6.85 on the menu board, and it comes to $7.75 when I ask for the money, it looks bad on me,' he said.
Matt Bullington, who owns Texas Tavern, says the meals tax has been raised several times throughout the restaurant's history. For instance, it was hiked during the financial crisis.
'Every time the city gets in a financial burden or has a financial burden it comes to our industry to help bail them out,' he said.
'Many people are aware the past five years have been the hardest five years in the history of the modern restaurant industry,' he continued. 'I'm not exaggerating that. We've had COVID restrictions, rampant inflation, supply line problems, dislocation of everything.'
City Council didn't make any decisions Monday. They're set to adopt a budget May 12.
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