Wilmington council to discuss using FY27 contingency funds for Community Justice Center and film partnership

The Wilmington City Council will hold a follow-up discussion to consider whether to allocate contingency funds in the FY27 budget to a Community Justice Center request and a state film partnership.

City staff told the council that the FY27 budget is finalized and includes two contingency pots — a council contingency and an economic development contingency — each with in excess of $100,000 available for discretionary allocation. Staff said the earlier budget work session did not produce a decision, so the purpose of the upcoming meeting is to have a focused conversation about dollars so staff can prepare a budget amendment if council members direct them to do so.

A council member asked whether representatives of the requesting organizations would be invited; staff said leaders were not invited for the initial discussion because the item is "really about the dollars at this point," but offered to invite them if council preferred. Staff also said it had recently obtained more information about state budget support for the film partnership and that staff can include any county funding in the materials at council’s request.

Staff emphasized that the session is primarily for direction: if council signals consensus to move forward on one or both requests, staff will prepare a budget amendment for a future meeting and a formal vote would be taken then. Council members may opt to take a formal vote at tomorrow’s meeting, but staff described the planned approach as conversational and preparatory rather than final.

The council’s next steps are expected to be either (1) directing staff to draft formal appropriation language and return it for a vote at a future meeting, or (2) asking staff to bring external proponents to a subsequent meeting for more formal presentations and questions.