The city will freeze unnecessary buying for the next two months until tax revenues begin to roll in during September, interim City Manager Ed Wyatt told council today.

The measure addresses cash flow concerns council discussed at a meeting in which this fiscal year's budget was approved, Wyatt said.

The freeze will exclude needed expenditures such as vehicle maintenance. Determinations may have to be made on other items, Wyatt said.

Wyatt suggested the city also look at joint buying between departments. “That would help us work to save money.”

After some negotiating last week and talking with department heads, council unanimously agreed to trim $373,301 from this year's financial plan.

There will be no job reductions from the trimming and it will put back into the budget $160,000 for a new trash truck.

The new budget keeps in the latest longevity plan for city employees, funding it at 100 percent. Also accounted in the reductions is $250,000 from deferring this year's balloon payment on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre and some $60,000 in savings from going with a new property and casualty insurance policy.

The $373,301 reflects $20,000 added back into the budget because former Parks and Recreation Director Chris Wicker will be taking a job with his church and will eventually not be performing his part time grant writing duties. Funding for that position now includes only $5,000.