The Macon County Board of Commissioners concluded nearly 10 combined hours of talks with department heads and discussions regarding the 2023-24 budget in its second budget workshop on Thursday, June 8.
Although budget approval has a deadline of June 30, Macon County Finance Director Lori Carpenter told the commissioners the goal would be to approve the budget by Tuesday, June 20 to best implement it going into the 2023-24 fiscal year starting July 1.
The commissioners were scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, for a public hearing, possibly more discussion on the budget and maybe a vote. If there isn’t a vote, they will have to schedule a special called meeting to vote on the budget.
The commissioners spent about 45 minutes discussing the budget after Thursday’s presentations which went two hours and 45 minutes, going over some big-ticket items.
Board Chair Paul Higdon said he’s talked with County Manager Derek Roland about the budget that gave him “heartburn” and reminded the board they could vote or not at the June 13 meeting.
Later in the discussion, Higdon spoke on the optics of the first Republican-only board of commissioners in Macon County history increasing the budget by $5.5 million, which would be the single-largest one-year increase in a base budget in county history.
“Politically for me, that number needs to be decreased,” Higdon said of the proposed $5,519,865 budget increase from $59,047,113 to $64,566,978.
Roland and Carpenter said this budget, despite its increase, is very fiscally conservative, considering recent economic growth.
“This is as conservative as you can be,” Roland said of the budget, later saying this budget is the product of “conservative budgeting meets substantial growth, nothing more and nothing less.”
Higdon also talked about the actual budget, which is what the fiscal year budget ends up at after 12-plus months of budget amendments and changes. Carpenter said that the revised budget for this current year is $65.3 million, a roughly $16 million increase from the budget originally approved for 2022-23.
Typically, the revised budget number ends up higher than the actual budget after unspent funds are counted. Higdon asked if the commissioners could review the actual budget after all the numbers are crunched. Carpenter said it typically takes three months after the fiscal year ends, so it would be late October.
Commissioner Danny Antoine said he has some questions for Roland about the budget before a potential vote. Commissioner Josh Young said the big issue for him is education, calling the inter-local agreements and what they provide the school system “the biggest factor in this budget.”
Young also mentioned potential one-time expenses for the school system, such as Highlands Pre-K and Franklin High School, saying budget time is when you discuss those needs.
“Looking at our fund balance, and I’ve griped about it for a period of time, but at the end of the day, if you’re really planning a large financial purchase, a fund balance is like a savings on a down payment…if we go full bore on the high school, it’s going to be our best friend,” Young said.
Commissioner Gary Shields spoke about “not losing vision” on a new Franklin High School, saying he didn’t want to lose young men who are dropping out of the workforce. The former FHS principal has often spoken about his desire to move forward with the new FHS project.
“Our community needs it, our young people need it,” Shields said of the proposed new FHS project.
Commissioner John Shearl talked about the four Highlands requests he brought up in the last workshop: the next steps of the Highlands Pre-K project that he says would cost $160,000, Zachary Park, the practice fields and the Highlands soccer field.
Shearl and Higdon talked about potentially shifting the $873,000 allocated in the 2023-24 budget to the Highlands soccer field to other needs, saying that since the geological survey will take until spring 2024, those funds might not be needed until then.
Shearl brought up his issues with the “revenue neutral” projections and pointed out that people living in the Highlands area (not just those within the town limits) will be paying a total of $1.226 million more due to the revaluation.
“Some of the poorest people in North Carolina live in Highlands,” Shearl said. When asked to clarify these numbers and how to fix them, Shearl said he doesn’t know what the answer is. Young later said that hike is likely going to be shouldered by second-home owners in Highlands and people whose property values went up more than 50%, despite the property tax decrease from 40 cents to 27 cents per $100 valuation.
One expense that currently isn’t in the budget that gained a consensus from the board was a full-body scanner for jail detainees. Sheriff Brent Holbrooks presented a full-body scanner as a request, saying it’ll prevent detainees from smuggling drugs, including those laced with fentanyl, into the jail. Shearl said it was a critical need and a “no-brainer,” to which Antoine agreed.
Public Health and DSS
During the presentations, the commissioners heard from Public Health Director Kathy McGaha. McGaha explained how an employee who had been there just one year was leaving for a new job in a different county offering over $14,000 a year more in salary.
Regarding animal control, which is under Public Health, McGaha said they picked up 151 animals last month, which was their highest month ever. That animal pickup rate previously averaged 60 a month, which means expenses have increased. Despite the high pickups, McGaha said the euthanization rate remains low.
For environmental health, McGaha said that their permitting hasn’t slowed down while neighboring counties have. Higdon asked about the backlog for a citizen to get a permit, to which McGaha said it’s at around eight weeks.
Many of the commissioners’ questions to McGaha concerned the 20-year-old Molar Roller, which McGaha is in the process of replacing. The current unit has been in the shop for 10 weeks this year. Much of that new unit will be paid for by Medicaid cost settlement funds. McGaha said she would likely be back in July with bids on a new unit for the commissioners to approve.
Department of Social Services Director Patrick Betancourt gave his presentation. DSS relies mostly on federal and local non-county dollars, with only a minority of its funds coming from the Macon County government.
Betancourt talked about the effect of the state Medicaid expansion, anticipating 3,299 new Medicaid cases in the next year on top of the 10,362 already enrolled. Shearl said it was concerning that a third of Macon County residents are on Medicaid, expressing his opinion that the private sector is in trouble.
Betancourt is requesting three new employees that will be 100% reimbursed by Medicaid funds.
So far, Macon County has received $45,282 for up-front costs for anticipated extra Medicaid workloads through October, Betancourt said.
Sheila Conley, Medicaid programs and energy assistance director, told the commissioners about the complex and tightly regulated process for citizens to apply for and get Medicaid.
“It’s not a fly-by-night process,” Conley told the commissioners, calling the Medicaid application process “forensic accounting” where caseworkers search for hidden bank accounts, deeds of trust and more over several hours.