As COVID-19 and inflation continue to rear their ugly heads, local governments have to accordingly and uncomfortably adjust.
During their regular meeting on Tuesday, which was somewhat abbreviated in light of the Oakes Auto Group and Family Greenville Christmas Parade, the Greenville City Council considered a recommendation made by the Finance Committee.
The recommendation was that council authorize the removal of the Street Department asphalt spreader from the list of capital expenditures authorized under the approved Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget previously estimated at $175,000, which now sells for $231,777.90.
As outlined in the city council agenda, the substantial increase in price is due to vehicle and equipment cost overruns resulting from supply chain interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Tasha Banks asked why the spreader was being removed as the city is still in dire need of it.
“We budgeted for a certain amount but the price has gone up,” Mayor Errick Simmons replied.
Ward 2 Councilwoman Lois Hawkins said she was told the winter season would essentially render the asphalt spreader useless, but it could be included in the budget for FY 2022-2023.
Regarding the search for a used spreader, Ward 6 Councilman James Wilson said, “At the time, we hadn’t been able to find a used one and as the mayor just stated, even with the police cars for the price we have budgeted, they’ve went up tremendously,” noting the cost of striping and light installation.
He also highlighted the cost of a prospective street sweeper has increased substantially and will likely have to be considered for the next fiscal year’s budget.
“Every ward in Greenville needs somewhere around a million dollars to do streets,” Wilson pointed out. “It’s just that bad and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Simmons then shed more light on what, specifically, the finance committee was challenged with.
“We have two issues. The first issue is that with the police cars we have 15 and with the fire department, we’ve got five,” he said to the council. “Prices have increased into inflation during COVID on all of those vehicles and with the spreader, if we get that $175,000, we can go ahead and still keep the 15 (police cars).”
According to Simmons, the Finance Committee had contemplated reducing the number of cars for police and fire.
“But we need the first responders’ vehicles and we cannot get those cars with the money that we budgeted and the striping. So now, if we go ahead and forego the spreader, that money can be used to help stripe and outfit the equipment on those cars, then we’ll come back to finance and try to see what we can do,” he said further.
He also alluded to seeing what can be recovered from President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill as “there is a slew of money for broadband vehicles.”
The council voted unanimously to accept the Finance Committee’s recommendation.
