Our October 30, 2013 blog post focused on 2013 revenue and expenses on specific City of Rocky Mount facilities. We will now focus on those same facilities for the time period of 2008 to 2013.
As the previous blog stated, most of us agree that a municipality exists to provide for the common good of its citizens. As with anything in life you have to wisely pick and choose where you decide to spend money. A municipality is no different.
The City of Rocky Mount has chosen to allocate a portion of city resources to the Children’s Museum, Imperial Centre, Booker T Theater, Art Centre and Sports Complex. We would argue that we have some of the finest facilities in North Carolina. We can even argue and prove some of these facilities create sales for select area businesses and sales tax for our city. We all recognize this comes at a cost.
We originally requested five years of revenue and expense data from the City of Rocky Mount and later requested data for 2013. In six years the Children’s Museum, Imperial Centre, Booker T Theater, Art Centre and Sports Complex created $4,544,306.82 in revenue compared to expenditures totaling $24,542,590.91. This created deficit spending of $19,998,284.09.
We, the citizens, need to determine if this is the best use of our money and have this conversation with our City Leaders. Regardless of the outcome, we need to realize this is $20 million we could have saved or allocated to other areas. What do you think?
NOV
We also spend an enormous amount on all the other services the city provides, most of which are necessary and expected by our citizens. Trash collection, for example, does not generate any revenue. What does it cost taxpayers? How much could the city save if we all hauled our trash to the dump? How much would it save us on taxes? The Imperial Center, Playhouse, Childiren’s Museum, and Sports Complex are what make Rocky Mount unique. Throw all that away and what do we have to sell? We aren’t naturally blessed with mountains, coast lines, major universities, theme parks, or other attractions to make people want to move here or locate businesses here. We have to create our own identity, our own brand, so to speak. The Imperial Center, Art Museum, Childrens’s Museum and Sports Complex have added a “wow” factor that counteracts any negativism created by the press and the “naysayers”. Why are we questioning our greatest assets?
Thanks a lot.