Wilmington City Council failed in its effort to override Mayor Dennis Williams’ veto of its plan to cut more than $511,000 allocated to fill eight currently vacant positions with the city’s fire department.
After a month of heated debate, the controversial cuts proposed for the city’s operating budget have been denied after a succinct meeting Tuesday night that featured no debate or discussion. The vote was 7 in favor of the override and 5 against. Council was two votes short of the majority they needed to override the veto signed by the Mayor on July 18.
The budget amendment making the cuts was originally passed 8-5 during council’s July 3. Councilman Darius Brown was the only person to change his vote, deciding not to support the override after okaying the cuts initially.
When he called the special session to consider a veto last week, City Council President Theo Gregory said he believed had the necessary votes. Gregory says he still thought he had the votes Tuesday.
“Oh, I’m disappointed," said Gregory. "I’m disappointed in those who said they were going to vote for it, but didn’t vote for it Up until the last minute folks said they were going to vote for it, but that’s their right [to change their minds] and I have to respect that they voted the way they did.”
When asked, Gregory would not say who misled him, adding he is focused on the future.
“That bell has been rung, I can’t unring it," said Gregory. I’m going to move on.”
Gregory and another supporters of the cuts called them necessary to control government spending and avoid raising taxes and fees on city residents. Gregory says he is continuing his effort to identify area where cuts can be made.
“What we’re going to do is see where it makes sense to make cuts, and if I get a majority in council, then I’m going to make cuts. But we have to agree.”
Councilwoman Loretta Walsh supported the cuts and the override. She agrees the fight to reduce city spending does not end with this setback.
“We’re going to do what we set out to do and that’s look at all the departments to see where expenses can be eliminated, including City Council. Tonight, [the vote went] for the Fire Department, but the Fire Department still isn’t off the table. Once we get into the other departments, there’s going to be no leaf left unturned,” said Walsh. "We’ll let this die down, but you know, half of the stuff that was being said was absolute hogwash. It was pretty interesting because [...] the taxpayers, the ones that are picking up these bills, they were very much for what council was doing.”
Mayor Williams, Fire chief Anthony Goode, and firefighters' union argue the cuts would jeopardize public safety. Goode says he's glad the override failed, and believes the debate should not have continued as long as it did.
“This is a bad way to do government business, and we shouldn’t have to be at this point. We should be working together to get things moving forward,” said Goode.
Goode adds he realizes the issue is likely to come up again and says he won’t shy away from conversations about future proposals to cut his department.
“We want to sit down with all these individuals and say this is what we can do for you and this is what we can’t do. This is what is going to threaten our ability to provide [service] to the citizens of Wilmington, as well as to visitors and businesses," said Goode. So, I’m open to sit down at the table and discuss this stuff with them, and see how you can be fiscally responsible. And we’re looking to see what we can do for that, but we’ve done a lot and I don’t know exactly how much more we can do."
He says in the short term the fire department will look to hire for the eight vacant positions that were the target of the proposed amendment.