The city of Little Rock is seriously considering furloughs after deciding not to use insurance money from a community center that burned down last year.
At least 40 people that showed up to the Little Rock City Council meeting say they want the adult leisure center rebuilt with insurance money. Supporters of the
Adult Leisure Center that burned down last year say people had meetings, even weddings and anniversaries there.
The city council decided to take the idea of using $1.4 million dollars in insurance money from the center off the table.
"Nobody wants to talk about it, but we got to look at a sales tax increase, maybe adding another penny to the sales tax, hamburger tax,” Ken Richardson said. “We’ve got to figure out ways to bring in new revenue."
The city manager also showed the council how much money the city could save if it furloughed employees, such as giving them time off without pay. Police, fire and other emergency personnel would be protected, but if the city furloughed 492 non-emergency workers for 10 days, it could save one million dollars. That is looking more and more like a reality.
“We have to weigh it,” said Richardson. “We have to look at where we are, how we're going to make up the budget deficit and what does that mean?"
The city blames the $3 million dollar shortfall on reduced money from utility company franchise fees.
The city council did make some adjustments leaving about $1.4 million dollars total to account for in the future. The city manager will present some more ideas on how to make up for the shortfall next Tuesday.
