SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council held its public hearing on the proposed 2027 budget, drawing criticism about firefighter investment and excess spending and support for police force funding.
Budget Manager Tracey Keyes delivered a short presentation recapping the budget that was first presented on May 18. The $131-million budget includes a 1.9-cent property tax increase, helping fund four new police department positions, police department salary increases, the Capital Project Department formation, street paving and employee pay and benefit increases.
The City Council discussed the budget at a budget workshop on May 26, highlighting some concerns about branding investment and questions on public safety funding.
One of the concerns expressed from multiple residents during public comment was firefighter compensation. The Salisbury Professional Firefighters have expressed concern about high turnover in the fire department due to non-competitive wages, but no direct raise is included in the proposed budget beyond the general 6.5-percent pay increase for all city employees.
“Despite the critical role we play, there continues to be a growing gap between firefighter compensation and the police compensation,” Joshua Helms-Shermer, president of the Salisbury Professional Firefighters, said. “This is about ensuring that firefighters receive the same commitment from the city that it has shown to other public safety departments.”
Lisa Monroe, the mother of Justin Monroe who died in the Salisbury Millwork fire in 2008 at 19 years old, came forward to talk about funding the fire department.
“My son, Justin Monroe, lost his life while serving the citizens of this town. At the time of his death, he made $10 an hour as a part-time employee. Eighteen years later, a starting rookie firefighter makes roughly $15.03 an hour,” Monroe said. “Many times over the past five years, these firefighters have come forward, have stood before you regarding pay and staffing issues, only to have it fall on deaf ears.”
As a mother, she expressed her concern that something like the event that killed her son would happen again. She emphasized that increasing pay is not just about money but about respect.
“Morale inside an organization is equally as important as pay. If you feel appreciated, you thrive. Tragic events happen everyday, but you’ll have to live with the consequences if this happens again. You’ve been warned by these firefighters and asked to listen,” Monroe said.
Some members of the public came forward to express their support for the police department investment considering the work they do for the community.
“By improving retention and recruitment, we can strengthen our police force, improve response capabilities and help make our city safer,” said Jackie Harris, formerly a director for Rowan United Way.
DeeDee Wright from the West End Neighborhood Organization even encouraged City Manager Jim Greene to add funding for a third officer, considering the annexation of property on Statesville Boulevard for a residential complex.
“This is my 32nd year supporting the budget for police officers. I adore them. They get on my nerves sometimes, but they are there for me when I need them,” Wright said.
Ben Fisher from Fisher Realty, Carroll Fisher Construction and Old Stone Investments came forward to share the importance of police officers for their businesses, which are currently too short staffed to respond quickly to issues on their properties.
“Our companies and many others in Salisbury have experienced a somewhat drastic increase of crime on our properties in the last few years,” Fisher said. “These experiences have led me to several instances where I’ve needed to call for assistance, and there simply were not enough patrol officers to respond…. I say this as an advocate, to advocate for more funding, more staffing, so they can adequately respond to these growing issues.”
Matthew Marsh, the owner of the Forum gym and other businesses in the county, came to speak about the importance of police presence for their business operations. He also advocated for the park ranger system based on the model of park rangers in Kannapolis.
“I feel the strain that we have with not having enough officers. With the officers and the budget, I know a lot of questions came up with the park rangers, and I also have two businesses in Kannapolis, and I’ve seen the park rangers really work,” Marsh said.
Clyde, a local artist, was intent on saving the city some money through cutting lines from the budget in light of rising property taxes and fees.
He encouraged the council to look into branding from Rowan County tourism rather than going through a proposal process, collecting taxes internally rather than paying Rowan County to collect, creating a city landfill rather than using the Rowan County landfill, getting rid of recycling considering most residents do not recycle correctly and moving the stormwater fees to property tax bills rather than on the water bill.
One of his primary gripes that has come up in past years is the two-week public feedback period to change anything about the budget.
“It’s like saying, ‘don’t bother to come and talk,’ because you’re not going to change anything in 14 days. It’s impossible. Every year, we bring this up,” Clyde said.
Following public comment, the City Council decided to forego the scheduled June 9 budget workshop, instead planning to discuss and vote on the budget at the June 16 City Council meeting. The city is required to pass the budget by June 30.
