“For too long now the city has suffered from what I call ‘Theater-itis,” the city manager said. “This is a disease local to Roanoke Rapids whereby the city slashes its operations, services and staff to support the theater debt obligations, minimizing the ability to fulfill our role to provide the highest level of services and maintain our streets and facilities for the residents of Roanoke Rapids.”
Sabiston said the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, “attempts to take a substansial step forward to return this city to providing expected services and maintaining our assets.”
Sabiston said the message from city council is it wants to “get back to the roots of what city government is for. I don’t know if we can do it in one year. I think it takes a large step in that direction.”
The city has had difficult times in the last few years but Sabiston said the proposed budget restores Saturday hours at the library and recreation centers as well as several street maintenance issues.
Sabiston did not discount the idea that taxes may need to be raised in the future to prevent the city from becoming one in decay, a “city no one wants to to live in. I want this to be the beginning of a new approach to city government in Roanoke Rapids.”
On the theater, Sabiston noted, “It’s going to take several years to get the theater back where it needs to be.”
He said the status of the theater debt is serious. “It’s one this budget assumes no revenues coming from the theater.”
He said the $1.9 million the city will have to carry in the upcoming fiscal year is a “huge hole to fill for us. We’ve pulled from the theater reserve. We’ve pulled from the general fund reserve to cover basic needs and essentials.”
Said the city manager: “It will take several years to completely recover from Theater-itis, and we have many difficult decisions still to make, but we can start now with this budget.”
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