The Board of Commissioners on Monday night voted 3-2 to whack two cents off the tax rate and adopt a budget that does not provide an additional $300,000 requested by Sandhills Community College. That will reduce the tax rate from 47.5 cents to 45.5 cents per $100 property valuation.
Commissioners David Cummings, Michael Holden and Virginia Saunders voted in favor. Tim Lea and Colin McKenzie voted against, because the budget does not provide the college with the amount it requested.
The budget adopted by the board is the original budget proposed by County Manager Steve Wyatt. It does not further reduce funding for any department, agency or institution supported by the county.
Instead, the two-cent rate reduction, estimated at $1.6 million, will come from the county’s unappropriated fund balance and will knock the fund balance from 12 percent down to about 10.6 percent of the county’s total operating budget.
“There doesn’t seem to be enough for everyone,” Holden said.
He said county revenues appeared to attract “a feeding frenzy” among people and groups seeking government funding.
Holden made the motion for the two-cent decrease early in the meeting, when it was defeated 3-2. Cummings, who is the board chairman, joined Lea and McKenzie in voting against. He later switched his vote to favor the tax cut.
On Tuesday, Cummings said that the tax rate decrease would not affect county funding of the college. The board majority decided instead to stick with the manager’s original budget, which provides the college with a 13 percent increase over county budgeting for the current year, which is $300,000 less than the college trustees requested.
“The two-cent tax reduction has absolutely nothing to do with the funding of the college,” Cummings said Tuesday.
College leaders had predicted that four facilities would be closed if the county did not provide the $300,000. The facilities include Blue Hall, Causey Hall, the Visitors’ Center at the Horticultural Gardens and the Westmoore campus.
Cummings said that the county would work with the college if there is a serious budgeting problem later in the 2005-06 fiscal year.
Efforts to reach a compromise on the college funding level apparently fell to the political wayside, with the commissioners unable to arrive at something agreeable to all parties.
Three Options
For the Monday night meeting, Wyatt had prepared three different budgets for the board’s scrutiny.
One was the original budget proposal. Another adjusted the allocation to the college by adding $150,000 with that amount taken from the fund balance. The third budget provided the full $300,000 to the college with the sum also coming from the fund balance.
Cummings said that he remained committed to providing $225,000 to the college, a figure he had accepted during a budget work session held last week. However, he had learned that the college administration was willing to compromise at the $150,000 level.
Two motions made during the Monday night meeting failed for lack of a second. Cummings made the motion to allocate an additional $150,000 to the college. Commissioner Tim Lea, who is also a trustee of the college, made a motion to allocate $225,000, the same amount Cummings had earlier supported.
With no second made to Lea’s motion, Cummings asked about the procedure for returning to the original motion by Holden.
Cummings sought advice on Robert’s Rules of Order and determined that only the chairman can bring to the floor a previously voted down motion.
“Robert’s Rules don’t apply,” Lea said. “We have no rules.”
With Holden’s motion back on the floor, Saunders again made a second. When the vote was taken, Cummings joined them in voting in favor. McKenzie joined Lea in casting the dissenting votes.
“We need to move on,” said Cummings, moving to the next item on the agenda.
Political Motivation Raised
The issue of politics was raised earlier in the meeting.
Lea said 2006 is election year and that Holden, Cummings and Saunders would face re-election. He contended that their push to lower taxes was politically motivated.
He reminded the board that Moore County’s tax rate is among the 10 lowest rates in North Carolina and is lower than rates in neighboring counties. The state average is 66.4 cents.
“If lowering taxes is playing politics, I plead guilty,” said Holden, adding, “it’s their money,” a reference to taxpayers.
McKenzie said that although a 1 percent dip in the fund balance is not insignificant, it was still workable if the college really needs the money. McKenzie added that he too would like to see some money returned to taxpayers.
Cummings said that he had talked with SCC President Dr. John Dempsey, whom he quoted as indicating willingness to compromise. Cummings said Dempsey had agreed that the college could manage with half the amount requested.
“I will support $150,000. We can meet Dr. Dempsey halfway,” Cummings said during the meeting.
When Saunders asked if that would mean keeping Westmoore Center open, Cummings said Dempsey had assured him that Westmoore would be continued.
But Lea threw out a question about Dempsey’s ability to make such promises.
“My understanding is that it would be up to the Board of Trustees,” he said. “Their position is that they need $300,000.”
He added that there was no way that a commitment could be made to keep Westmoore open until college financial administrators had assessed the costs and available funds.
‘Will Be Consequences’
Wyatt quoted Dempsey as saying that if the college could have flexibility in use of funds, then the Westmoore campus could be retained. He said that Blue Hall would be closed because some work was needed there and that the college could delay a maintenance contract until later in the fiscal year.
Dempsey was attending a meeting of the college trustees and was not present for the commissioners’ meeting. Richard Gough, the college finance officer, addressed the commissioners briefly. Gough said that Lea was correct that neither he nor Dempsey could make a budget commitment without first examining available funds.
“There will be consequences if we receive less than $300,000,” Gough said.
Elton Turner, a regular visitor to board meetings, was also allowed to speak, although it was not a public hearing. Turner asked if the college did not have other available resources, such as an alumni association.
No answer was provided, and Cummings made the first motion that died for lack of a second.
On Tuesday, Cummings said he was really concerned about the way the budget situation had developed.
“It troubles me,” Cummings said. “It hurts. It really bothers me that we can’t fund the college.”
He added that he regarded the $150,000 addition as “a good compromise.”
However, he pointed out that Moore County has a history of providing significant funding for the college. He cited statistics showing that Moore County provides the second highest college per student funding among the 100 counties.
Cummings said his main concern is that the taxpayers understand that the two-cent tax reduction is coming from the fund balance and in no way is responsible for the shortfall in college funding.
“It’s hard to deal when you’re being shot at by both sides,” he said. “I’m in a no-win situation. All I’m trying to do is have a fair and honest relationship with all departments, with the college and the schools. It’s tough when you’re caught like that. I’m still trying to move forward with the needs of the county, and I think we are making progress.”
The budget adopted by the board and originally prepared by Wyatt totals $62.4 million for the General Fund, which is the overall operational budget for the county.
Sandhills College requested $4.8 million in county funds, including additional funds to cover operational costs for two large new buildings being erected on the Southern Pines campus. Wyatt’s proposal provided $4.4 million to the college, which is $376,432, or about 13 percent, more than the county funding level for the 2004-05 year.
When the college budget request was first presented earlier in the spring, officials warned that additional money would be needed because of the two new buildings.
When the college request was not fully funded, college officials made a plea for the $300,000 cut from their request and warned that this loss of funding would mean closures and other operational cutbacks.
The college request was heavily supported by speakers at the budget public hearing on May 26.
The commissioners held another budget workshop on May 31, when the college repeated the reasons for the $300,000 in additional money. The board took no action during that meeting, in keeping with board policy, but did instruct Wyatt to prepare two budgets using differing funding levels for the college, to be considered at the June 6 regular meeting.
Except for the change in the fund balance, no other changes are included in the budget adopted by the commissioners Monday night. The budget provides full funding for the public schools and provides a 3.3 percent cost of living adjustment for all employees.
The new budget goes into effect July 1.
The Local Government Commission recommends that counties retain a fund balance of at least 8 percent. The commission would prefer a higher percentage but regards 8 percent as the minimum acceptable for a fund balance. The idea is to make sure that local governments have sufficient funds to meet their regular fiscal responsibilities year-round.
