OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Winston-Salem City Council Budget Workshop: Capital Plan, Agency Funding, and CBAC Report - May 14, 2026

Meeting Portal — Thursday, May 14, 2026
BodyWinston Salem, North Carolina
SessionMeeting Portal
DateThursday, May 14, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:58:37

Transcript — Verbatim
1:35

You're watching WSTV Digital Media.

4:14

It's my pleasure to call to order this special meeting of the Wistels City Council acting as a committee of the whole.

4:21

And ask the city clerk to call the vote, please.

4:24

Councilmember Joyner.

4:25

Councilmember Andrew Bowen.

4:28

Here.

4:28

Councilmember Scipio.

4:30

Councilmember Clark.

4:32

Mayor Per Tim Adams.

4:34

Councilmember Taylor.

4:36

Councilmember Hall, President.

4:38

And Councilmember Burke.

4:51

This is our second meeting.

4:52

Um Scott, if you'll take the podium.

5:00

We're going to go over the capital budget.

5:02

We're also going to talk about the nonprofit allocations because they're not officially in the budget.

5:09

Just for everyone's information, we we're not voting on anything at this moment.

5:14

We're still taking information.

5:16

We'll have a the committee will have a public hearing.

5:21

And that our last meeting, after I polled everybody, we'll decide kind of what we want to the committee to approve, and that will go forward to the full council for that's at the council level.

5:35

And I think you also have a public hearing, uh mayor.

5:39

And then the council will vote on it at that time.

5:42

So we're still gathering information uh learning and seeing what's going on.

5:48

And again, if you have questions, the staff will take them and they will put together answers for everyone.

5:54

Uh and we'll continue to accumulate information and data as we head towards a decision.

6:01

Mr.

6:01

Tesh, you have the floor.

6:04

Thank you, Chairman Clark, Mayor, and members of the City Council.

6:06

We do have both the Capitol Plan and a community agencies discussion on our agenda.

6:10

But before that, uh we have a presentation from the Cis Citizens Budget Advisory Council.

6:16

We do have two of the members here uh with us, and the chair, Mr.

6:19

Tony Piacenza, will be um giving the presentation.

6:22

They did spend quite a considerable amount of time looking at the resident survey data in a much more granular level uh than we are able to present at a public forum of this nature.

6:31

So they have several presentations related to the information and data analysis that they have done there.

6:36

And I will turn it over to Tony and allow him to go through the presentation.

6:41

Thanks, sir.

6:45

Yes, sir.

6:46

Um my name is Tony Piacenza.

6:48

I live at 625 Jersey Avenue here in Winston-Salem, so I'm a proud member or resident of the Northwest Ward and even prouder member of the Citizens Budget Advisory Council.

6:59

Um really appreciate uh Mr.

7:02

Mayor and uh the rest of the council for giving us the time here to speak and to cover some of this material.

7:07

Um we've spent a lot of time, as Scott said, um, really trying to look into the data that's been available, made available to us, especially via um the resident survey from 2025 and also the city manager's proposed budget, and we have spent multiple sessions as a group um going through that data and trying to um make some recommendations that we think both reflect uh the type of progress that we think the city itself should make, but also the feedback that the residents gave the city so that we can um make recommendations that said city um in a direction to being able to make the their communities a better place to live, work, and play.

7:44

Um I'll go through a couple of parts of our work plan.

7:47

Um had it there.

7:55

We go.

7:56

Simplest things.

7:57

There we go.

7:57

Um, like I said, we used uh the resident survey data um and a company analysis provided by Scott Staff and his staff and others, um, and also again the 2026 proposed budget.

8:08

We spent ample time reviewing that as well.

8:10

Um our recommendations take a couple of different forms.

8:14

The first will be some broader um ideas, thoughts, um, and general recommendations, and then I'll get into some topic-specific recommendations.

8:23

Um try to read as much as I can, keep myself on task seeing task even brought my glasses today, so you know it's important.

8:30

Um, first um area of recommendations was really focused on some of the trends we noticed in response to the survey about local businesses and business development.

8:42

We also recognize some of the the realities of growth, both population and economic in the city.

8:48

Um and as such, in response to the resident survey, we thought it would be not just helpful but vital to also develop a way to survey local businesses in some of the communities, especially where uh residents did give us some feedback that that increased development would really help to improve their communities.

9:09

So a a business follow-up survey, we think would would really help us to better understand where some of our citizens' needs are, but also the impact of um employment tax increases and some of the other economic realities that a lot of our citizens are facing.

9:25

Um so anything that we can do to follow up on that front, we think would be invaluable both to this committee and to the city as a whole.

9:33

Um connected to those, however, are a lot of topic-specific recommendations that we think the general improvement of our local communities, or it goes hand in hand with some of the general improvement of our local communities.

10:00

And our recommendations are that the budget incorporate and prioritize opportunities to, yes, increase police president or presence in our communities and address some of the concerns about crime rates and specific types of crime that they they experience in communities, but also identify and fund strategies to increase opportunities for programming targeted at city youth and increasing and improving facilities and community police relationships so that we can take a more comprehensive approach to solving concerns that our citizens might have about crime.

10:34

And also we recommend additional data collection and analysis so that we can really target specific types of crime or concerns that our citizens have.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget Equity Analysis██████████████████████████████████34%
Engineering And Infrastructure███████████████████████23%
Water And Wastewater Management██████6%
Parks and Recreation█████5%
Community Engagement█████5%
Homelessness█████5%
Fiscal Sustainability████4%
Procedural███3%
Public Engagement███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Winston-Salem City Council Budget Workshop: Capital Plan, Agency Funding, and CBAC Report - May 14, 2026

The Committee of the Whole of the City Council held a budget workshop on May 14, 2026, at 2:00 PM. The workshop covered the Citizens Budget Advisory Council (CBAC) report, the FY 2026-27 capital plan, community agency funding recommendations, and occupancy tax fund review. No votes were taken on the overall budget; the council gathered information ahead of a public hearing on May 18 and final adoption on June 1.

Citizens Budget Advisory Council Presentation

  • Tony Piacenza (Chair, CBAC) presented the committee's work plan and recommendations based on the 2025 resident survey and the city manager's proposed FY 2026-27 budget. Key recommendations included:
    • Conducting a follow-up survey of local businesses to better understand economic development needs.
    • Increasing police presence, youth programming, and community-police relationships to address crime.
    • Continuing investment in public transit, sidewalks, streets, and parking, with follow-up evaluation of recent initiatives (e.g., new parking program, WSTA microtransit).
    • Dedicated resources for affordable housing production and rehabilitation, especially given property tax increases.
    • Expanding access to waste collection and disposal to reduce illegal dumping.
    • Improving park and recreation facility maintenance, programming, and hours of operation.
    • Exploring alternative fuels for city fleet and facilities, with a formal written sustainability policy.
    • Enhancing data collection at the ward level to better capture community feedback.
  • Piacenza noted the CBAC report (26 pages) was available for detailed review. Council members thanked the committee for their service.

Capital Plan Improvement Discussion

  • Scott Tesh (Director of Finance) presented the FY 2026-27 capital budget and the six-year capital plan. Key points:
    • Over $70 million in non-utility projects moved from design to construction or were completed in the past year.
    • FY27 capital budget is approximately $100 million; the six-year total is just under $600 million. Utilities (water/sewer) remain the largest component.
    • Transportation projects include major additions: Lowry Street reconstruction ($13 million total), Piedmont Regional Greenway, and sidewalks on Rushy Fork and Jonestown Road, all requiring significant cost increases due to scope creep or post-COVID inflation.
    • Street resurfacing funded at $7.2 million annually; achieving a 30-year cycle would require an additional $4-5 million per year. Current cycle is 50+ years.
    • Unfunded needs list reduced to below $1 billion for the first time, but still dominated by transportation (sidewalks, streets) and public safety facilities (e.g., Special Operations Division building, Public Safety Center).
    • Facility condition assessments (by Alpha Facilities, San Antonio) are underway; on-site work ends June 2026, with a draft report expected in August.
    • Funding sources include reserves (pay-go), revenue bonds, limited obligation bonds, federal transit administration grants, and local motor vehicle privilege tax. Council member Driver asked about reliability of federal funding; staff expressed confidence but noted potential risks.
  • Council discussion included questions on the landfill life (targeted for next retreat), progress on the stormwater repair at Research Park (essentially complete), and sidewalk condition assessments (CBAC also recommended this). Council member Clark cautioned that the $1 billion unfunded list is not realistic given annual spending of ~$50 million on non-utility capital; hard prioritization is needed.

Community Agency Funding Recommendations

  • Scott Tesh presented the base scenario for local community agency funding derived from council votes: $841,000 out of a total available $956,550 in the general fund. The base scenario included agencies that received four or more votes from council members.
  • The list included 20 agencies (e.g., Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Second Harvest Food Bank, Samaritan Ministries, City with Dwellings, The Dwelling, etc.). A color-coded sheet showed which agencies would receive increases, decreases, or new funding compared to FY26.
  • Council members added requests for organizations not in the base scenario: Partnership for Prosperity (Mayor Allen), Center for Creative Economy (Councilmember Joyner), Liberty East Redevelopment (Councilmember Scipio), and Anchor (Councilmember Scipio). Councilmember Hall also suggested Authoring Action and Lee Girls.
  • Councilmember Joyner raised concerns about fully funding any agency's entire budget with city money, preferring to spread funds to impact more organizations.
  • Chair Clark proposed using the $841,000 as the base and then allocating the remaining ~$115,000. A motion to adopt the $841,000 base was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.
  • Chair Clark will work with staff to develop a proposal for the remaining funds, incorporating council suggestions, and present it at the next budget workshop on May 21.

Occupancy Tax Funds and Associated Sponsorships

  • The occupancy tax fund budget totals $406,000. The base scenario (from council votes) included four incumbent agencies (Piedmont Triad Film Commission, RiverRun International Film Festival, NC Black Repertory Company for the International Black Theater Festival, Old Salem) plus the Winston-Salem Symphony at $378,000, leaving $28,000 unallocated.
  • Discussion on using the remaining $28,000: Councilmember Taylor suggested youth events (Fairground Fridays); Councilmember Joyner proposed Tri-City Film Consortium to support film industry growth; Chair Clark added Collideum (a children's museum) as a potential one-time grant.
  • A motion to adopt the $378,000 base scenario was made, seconded, and passed unanimously. Chair Clark will work with staff to finalize the additional $28,000 allocation.
  • Council also reviewed the full occupancy tax fund budget, including transfers to the convention center, fairgrounds, and public art funds. No changes were made.

Key Outcomes

  • CBAC Report: Received and filed; council expressed appreciation for the committee's work.
  • Community Agency Funding: Adopted the $841,000 base scenario unanimously. Chair Clark and staff will develop a proposed allocation for the remaining ~$115,000 to be discussed May 21.
  • Occupancy Tax Agency Funding: Adopted the $378,000 base scenario unanimously. Chair Clark and staff will propose how to allocate the remaining ~$28,000.
  • Next Steps: Budget public hearing on Monday, May 18, 6:00 PM; next budget workshop on Thursday, May 21, 2:00 PM; budget adoption on Monday, June 1, 6:00 PM.

Meeting Transcript

You're watching WSTV Digital Media. It's my pleasure to call to order this special meeting of the Wistels City Council acting as a committee of the whole. And ask the city clerk to call the vote, please. Councilmember Joyner. Councilmember Andrew Bowen. Here. Councilmember Scipio. Councilmember Clark. Mayor Per Tim Adams. Councilmember Taylor. Councilmember Hall, President. And Councilmember Burke. This is our second meeting. Um Scott, if you'll take the podium. We're going to go over the capital budget. We're also going to talk about the nonprofit allocations because they're not officially in the budget. Just for everyone's information, we we're not voting on anything at this moment. We're still taking information. We'll have a the committee will have a public hearing. And that our last meeting, after I polled everybody, we'll decide kind of what we want to the committee to approve, and that will go forward to the full council for that's at the council level. And I think you also have a public hearing, uh mayor. And then the council will vote on it at that time. So we're still gathering information uh learning and seeing what's going on. And again, if you have questions, the staff will take them and they will put together answers for everyone. Uh and we'll continue to accumulate information and data as we head towards a decision. Mr. Tesh, you have the floor. Thank you, Chairman Clark, Mayor, and members of the City Council. We do have both the Capitol Plan and a community agencies discussion on our agenda. But before that, uh we have a presentation from the Cis Citizens Budget Advisory Council. We do have two of the members here uh with us, and the chair, Mr. Tony Piacenza, will be um giving the presentation. They did spend quite a considerable amount of time looking at the resident survey data in a much more granular level uh than we are able to present at a public forum of this nature. So they have several presentations related to the information and data analysis that they have done there. And I will turn it over to Tony and allow him to go through the presentation. Thanks, sir. Yes, sir. Um my name is Tony Piacenza. I live at 625 Jersey Avenue here in Winston-Salem, so I'm a proud member or resident of the Northwest Ward and even prouder member of the Citizens Budget Advisory Council. Um really appreciate uh Mr. Mayor and uh the rest of the council for giving us the time here to speak and to cover some of this material. Um we've spent a lot of time, as Scott said, um, really trying to look into the data that's been available, made available to us, especially via um the resident survey from 2025 and also the city manager's proposed budget, and we have spent multiple sessions as a group um going through that data and trying to um make some recommendations that we think both reflect uh the type of progress that we think the city itself should make, but also the feedback that the residents gave the city so that we can um make recommendations that said city um in a direction to being able to make the their communities a better place to live, work, and play. Um I'll go through a couple of parts of our work plan. Um had it there. We go. Simplest things. There we go. Um, like I said, we used uh the resident survey data um and a company analysis provided by Scott Staff and his staff and others, um, and also again the 2026 proposed budget. We spent ample time reviewing that as well. Um our recommendations take a couple of different forms.

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