By a 3-2 vote, the Macon County Board of Commissioners approved the 2024-25 fiscal year budget with a 1.76-cent tax increase for the Franklin Fire District.
Board Chair Gary Shields, Vice Chair Josh Young and Commissioner Danny Antoine voted in favor, while commissioners John Shearl and Paul Higdon voted against.
The $63,704,651 budget includes raising the Franklin Fire District tax from 5.24 to 7 cents per $100 valuation. This tax raise, requested by the Town of Franklin and unanimously supported by its Town Council, will supply the fire department with roughly an extra $397,000 per year. The Franklin Fire District includes over 14,000 people, most outside town limits. The county commissioners set the fire tax rate for all the departments in the county.
Franklin town and fire officials said the increased tax will help the department pay for two new fire trucks and update its equipment.
As he had at a previous meeting, Shearl questioned Franklin Fire Chief Ben Ormond and other Franklin town officials about the fire district and its past tax asks. Shearl recommended splitting the proposed increase, but the commissioners took no vote on the idea. Right before the final budget vote, Shearl said he wanted to decrease the property tax and reduce taxes but got no response.
Higdon said if Franklin Fire was his business, he’d plan differently to avoid a roughly 25% tax increase.
The only immediate change from the presented budget was taking $200,000 earmarked for a study on the Crawford Senior Center and moving it to contingency funding. Moving the $200,000 did not change the budget total.
The base budget is a slight decrease from the 2023-24 budget, from $63,754,537 to $63,704,651 for the coming year. However, after a year of budget amendments, the budget will likely be several million higher. According to the 2023-24 revised budget in County Manager Derek Roland’s budget message presented in May, the original $63.75 million budget for the current year was up to $76,549,538.
The county’s 27-cent property tax rate, the lowest in North Carolina when passed last year, will remain the same. All fire district taxes, except Franklin, will remain the same.
At the request of Finance Officer Lori Hall, staff will bring back other approved budget changes to the commissioners’ Tuesday, July 9 meeting.
The commissioners’ June 11 budget discussions mirrored much of what was said a week prior at the budget workshop. Higdon brought up the county divesting from Cowee School, eliminating the Community Funding Pool and holding on spending $200,000 to assess the Crawford Senior Center. Overall, Higdon said it was a “good budget.”
Cowee School
On divesting from Cowee School, Young said the county could grant the Cowee School Art and Heritage Center the building for one dollar. The vote to “explore options” on the building passed unanimously.
On eliminating the Community Funding Pool, Higdon said he wants any nonprofit who has a request to speak to the commissioners directly, to get some publicity and felt the county shouldn’t fund charities with taxpayer money. Shearl agreed with Higdon, saying he feels this isn’t what the government is set up to do. Shields said he felt strongly about having the money go toward the organizations that applied for it. Young talked about taking a more disciplined approach and praised the Men’s Challenge of the Smokes. Antoine said as a nonprofit head himself, he has no problem keeping the Community Funding Pool going.
The commissioners voted 2-3 on removing the Community Funding Pool from the 2024-25 budget, with Higdon and Shearl in favor, and Young, Antoine and Shields against.
Senior Center
On the Senior Center assessment, Higdon said he opposed it because it’s $200,000 to assess one department. Shields said the current building is a safety hazard, isn’t ADA accessible and with an increasing population, it’s an inadequate facility for older people. Antoine said the land behind the center could be used for extra parking. Antoine asked that instead of funding the study, they keep it in contingency until they can afford action on the building. The motion to move the $200,000 to contingency passed 3-2, with Shields, Antoine and Young in favor. Roland said staff will gather more information on immediate ADA needs.
Coaching stipend
By a 3-2 vote (Shields, Antoine and Young in favor), the commissioners will get a coaching stipend increase budget amendment to vote on in July. Young requested the 10% Macon County Schools coaching stipend increase of $31,720. Young said Macon County’s coaching stipends lag well behind Jackson County and haven’t increased in at least a decade. This will be paid for with contingency funds, which Roland said was $221,570.
Public comment
During public comment for the budget, Hazel Norris talked about how Macon County Sheriff’s deputies, EMTs and firefighters aren’t paid fairly and how the county needs to look ahead. Norris said while Macon County is the lowest-taxed county in the state, they don’t have as much to show for it. Norris also advocated for the new Franklin High project.
Highlands Town Commissioner Jeff Weller advocated for the county to spend $350,000 to help pay for an all-inclusive playground in the town. Weller said they’re trying to bring families into the park and said the plan is for the town to pay $250,000 toward it, apply for a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) grant worth up to $500,000 and raise $700,000 in private funds. Weller said they’re two weeks in and have raised $130,000 in private funds already. Weller said construction could start as soon as the summer of 2025.
The commissioners put off a vote on the funding until a future meeting.
Budget comments, questions
By a 4-1 vote with Shearl against, the commissioners approved having a budget amendment brought to them in July that would create a new code enforcement position from one of the two proposed environmental health positions. They will hold off on hiring the other until January 2025 to see if permit requests increase or not.
Originally, the budget called for two new environmental health positions as requested earlier in the spring after hearing about a 7-8-week backlog of permits. Through comp time and contract work, the Health Department whittled that backlog down to one week but noted that some staffers are working 55 hours a week, which Higdon said is not sustainable. Shearl recommended not filling either position until January 2025 and cutting out the vehicle, food and lodging funds designated for those two positions.
Macon County Planning Department’s Joe Allen said they conducted 1,072 inspections in April, up from 734 in April 2023. Allen also noted two of the inspectors are eligible to retire.
Shearl asked about ad valorem taxes, expanding contracted mowing for the Little Tennessee River Greenway, locally funded schoolteachers, Macon County Sheriff’s Office asking for four new pickup trucks and repeated that the Board of Elections office needs to move to be ADA compliant. Higdon said the Board of Elections office needs to be a top priority.
Antoine asked about funding for a shell over the pool and an accessible inclusive playground in the Macon County Park’s Recreation Master Plan. Currently, the county is funding Phase 1 of the plan (nine pickleball courts, six tennis courts, parking and restrooms/changing rooms) in 2024-25. The renovated pool, pool shell and inclusive playground are part of Phase 3, according to the master plan. Antoine said he believes the changes can open the park to bring back fireworks for the Fourth of July and other events. Roland said they can bring up the idea when bids for Phase 1 come back in shortly.
Shields said he was happy with the budget because it moved forward the Franklin High School project.