Reparations commission wants a budget
Oct. 25—HIGH POINT — A draft budget request under consideration by the One High Point Commission includes nearly $20,000 in city compensation for its members.
If approved, this would make the body, which is studying reparations for slavery, the only board or commission appointed by the City Council to get paid for its service.
"Commissioner stipends" of $19,500 are among a list of possible requests to the city totaling $105,500 that the OHPC discussed during its retreat Saturday.
Chairman Joe Alston said Monday that no final decisions have been made as to whether this will be included in any official budget request.
"At this point, it's just discussion," Alston said. "We've got to take further action."
City Councilman Michael Holmes, who serves on the commission, said he thinks the stipends will ultimately be left out of any budget proposal.
"No other commission in the city receives stipends (out of city funding)," Holmes said. "Everything is voluntary. This was a voluntary commission as well, and it was assumed that everyone understood that. So when that was proposed, I don't know that whoever put that in the budget necessarily was aware that no other commission gets paid."
The only council-appointed board whose members receive compensation for their service is the High Point Alcoholic Beverage Control board. Its chairman gets $2,000 a year and its members get $1,000 a year, all of which is ABC system funds, not city money.
Others on the commission said they think $105,500 would be too low a budget request to make to the city.
"We're trying to study something — somebody oppressed us for 400, 600 years," said Courtney Alston Wilson, commission vice chairwoman. "We could ask for $1 million if that's what it took to get the project really done."
The draft budget request includes $45,000 for legal services, as well as funds to hire a genealogist, historian and economist, and for town halls and other community events.
Holmes said city staff is already available to provide at least some of these services, as it does for other boards and commissions, so it may not be necessary to request additional funds.
"Considering that this is a city commission, there's already an obligation from our legal department to be able to provide any services, if requested," he said.
The High Point NAACP branch initially asked the city to appropriate $100,000 for the commission, but that was dropped because it would not have been approved by council, Holmes said.
"There was no budget number assigned to the resolution (establishing the commission), because it would not have passed," he said. "We now have to craft that. I know it's working backwards. I understand people are upset about this, but we are where we are."
Alston Wilson said she and other commissioners were told by the city that a budget of up to $90,000 could be allocated by staff without council approval.
"Look at the budget of Asheville. Asheville has $2 million," she said. "We are asking for crumbs. They should have allocated funds. It has created failure from the start. I've never started a project with no budget."
pkimbrough@hpenews.com — 336-888-3531
