On Tuesday the City Council discussed in their meeting the proposed budget of the City of Greenville.
The Auditor presented a budget that’s not balanced and would get the City deeper into the hole and Councilman Greg White was very concerned about this fact. His goal as a good financial Stewart was and is a balanced budget and he asked the Auditor why the City plans to spend $12 Million with only about $11.3 Million incoming funds.
Councilman White pointed out that the budget increased by 11% compared to the real expenses (not the budget!) in 2024.
Greg White stated “As revenue is less than expenses, it’s like digging a grave. We’re taking more dirt out and not putting anything in.”
He checked every single line item, showed the percentage of the increases and asked for explanations about substantial increases compared to the expenses in 2024, some items with an increase of a couple of hundred percent compared to the previous year. In most cases the answer was that the city budgeted these high amounts so they don’t have to come back during the course of the year and ask for more money.
Unfortunately, the other council members didn’t join Greg White in his efforts to come to a balanced budget, although obviously everyone (the council members as well as the City representatives) is aware of the trend, which is the widening gap between expenses and revenues.
Towards the end of the meeting Councilman White said: “The longer we wait to turn a big ship, the harder it is to turn the ship. And the more pain we’ll incur trying to turn the ship.”