The public will get an opportunity to discuss these changes and other items in the county’s 2005-2006 budget at a hearing Thursday at 6 p.m.
County Manager Steve Wyatt said a change in this year’s budget preparation schedule is designed to improve efficiency and avoid the distracting influence of other county business.
Wyatt has scheduled the budget public hearing for Thursday, rather than the traditional first meeting in June. The setting will be the same: the historic courthouse in Carthage.
The schedule also calls for a budget work session Monday from 8 a.m. until noon, when representatives of departments and agencies will make brief budget presentations to the Moore County Board of Commissioners.
“By Thursday, it will be fresh in everybody’s mind,” Wyatt said. “It gives the board a couple of days to digest it. It gives you the ability to focus on the budget.”
Under the new budget timetable, the 2005-2006 budget will be on the agenda for approval at the board’s regular June 6 meeting. In the past, the commissioners have adopted the new budget at their third Monday meeting in June.
Accelerated Schedule
Wyatt says the accelerated schedule will give the commissioners time to make changes between June 6 and the June 20 meeting.
State law requires counties to adopt their budgets no later than June 30, to go into effect July 1.
For the 2005-2006 fiscal year, Wyatt has proposed a General Fund budget totaling $72,750,376. It provides full funding for the schools and retains the existing tax rate of 47.5 cents per $100 valuation.
The overall budget, including the General Funds, enterprise funds, special funds (such as the 4-cent EMS tax), and such separate budgets as the East Moore Water District, totals $111 million.
The county’s tax base grew this year to $8 billion. From this source, the budget projects revenues in excess of $36.8 million in property taxes, an increase of 3.7 percent over the 2004-2005 budget. Another major source of revenue is sales tax collection, projected at $14.2 million, a 1.6 percent increase. Other revenues include fees, interest, payments on back taxes and other revenue sources.
To balance the new budget, Wyatt expects to dip into the undesignated fund balance by about $3.3 million. That’s an increase of almost 200 percent, but the county can afford to do so, based on the size of the current fund balance.
A recent report to the commissioners shows that the county’s fund balance is about $9 million, or 14 percent of the total operational budget. The Local Government Commission recommends that local governments retain a fund balance of at least 8 percent in order to have sufficient operational funds on hand to meet monthly obligations.
Using the fund balance makes it possible to provide more goods and services in the budget without increasing the tax rate. The commissioners have decreed that the tax rate will not be changed until the county undergoes the next property revaluation.
New Positions
The new budget contains nine and a half new positions, including a civil engineer, a risk management coordinator and a purchasing officer. It also calls for a 3.3 percent cost of living adjustment for all employees.
Wyatt has recommended significant changes in the Emergency Medical Services and 911 emergency communications budgets, which are funded outside the General Fund.
His budget includes funding for two additional EMS units and asks for authority to begin third party billing for EMS services. He also wants to add two 40-hour peak demand ALS crews to reduce response times, beginning Jan. 1. In addition, the budget calls for a revision of the salary plan for emergency services personnel to help retain and recruit the best emergency medical personnel.
Under the budget, the two new EMS units would be funded through the billing of insurance and other reimbursement sources.
The county finances the EMS program through a special tax added to the regular property tax. The rate can never exceed five cents and is currently four cents.
Facility Needs
A separate breakdown of capital outlay items for county facilities is not provided, but Wyatt does specify that during the new fiscal year the commissioners must pay serious attention to county facilities that have exceeded capacity.
In particular, he mentions the justice system, Sheriff’s Office, jail, tax, planning and community development, environmental health, and building inspections.
These are issues the commissioners have addressed in previous work sessions and were reflected in the report of an independent facilities consultant who studied the condition and space needs of all county departments and agencies.
One specific building project is named in the budget. This is $150,000 to build a multi-purpose fieldhouse at Hillcrest Park. Wyatt said this will meet a long-standing need for equipment storage, meeting space, restrooms, concessions and other operational functions.
In his budget message, Wyatt reminds the commissioners that addition of new facilities always means an increase in operational costs. This is true for the schools and the college as well as for county facilities.
Wyatt said that school construction needs must be addressed in the future. The Board of Education has deferred presentation of a school construction needs assessment, but he warns that this is an issue calling for attention in the near future.
Also in the new year the county faces operational costs for a new senior center, to be developed in the newly acquired Blue’s Crossing facility on U.S. 15-501 near Eastwood. An architect has been hired to design the renovation. An estimate of operational costs in the first year is not included.
Wyatt has recommended that the Veterans Service office be moved from the Agriculture Center to the senior center. He said the veterans program needs additional space, especially with the growth in the number of veterans in the community.
He said he has no plans to move any other agencies into the senior center and calls the inclusion of the veterans’ office an appropriate corollary use of the new facility.
Funds to buy the Blue’s Crossing building came through state grants totaling $1 million and arranged by state Rep. Richard Morgan, who is speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives.
Fire District Tax Rates
The budget also includes recommendations for tax rates for the county’s fire protection service districts. These are districts located in unincorporated areas and served either by rural departments or through contract with municipalities.
Seven fire departments have requested rate increases: Crestline from 9 cents to 12 cents; Eagle Springs from 5.5 cents to 9 cents; Eastwood from 7.75 cents to 8 cents; Seven Lakes from 4.25 cents to 5 cents; Southern Pines from 9 cents to 11 cents; West End from 5 cents to 6 cents; and Westmoore from 6 cents to 8 cents. All the others are unchanged. Whispering Pines did not submit a request.
