$92M of federal funding at risk, Winston-Salem city manager says

Winston-Salem officials are worried about the status of the city’s federal funding after meeting with congressional representatives last week. 

Officials are estimating about 14% of the city’s budget is in jeopardy — around $92 million.

“That’s a very big scary number," says Winston-Salem City Manager Pat Pate. He says that’s the amount that the city has been promised by the federal government, but hasn’t been dispersed yet. Given the Trump Administration’s budget cuts, he’s worried it won’t be. 

Pate and members of City Council were hoping to get a more concrete status update from congressional representatives at last week’s National League of Cities conference, but he says that didn’t happen.

“We're not positive of all the money we have, what's at risk and what's not at risk," he says. "Our conversations with our delegation could not give us any real assurances that they knew what might be on the table or off the table.”

Pate says losing that money could be devastating to the city's services.

“If they shut down the amount of money they sent us for the transit system, then we will not be able to operate the transit system," he says. 

Federal grants also help fund Winston-Salem's sidewalk and trail projects and major housing and homelessness programs, among other things. 

Pate says despite the uncertainty, the city must finalize a new budget for the next fiscal year by July 1.