Following up on the points of discussion at its May 22 work session, the Macon County Board of Commissioners reconvened on Wednesday, May 28, to further discuss budget matters with the Macon County Board of Education, Southwestern Community College, the Sheriff’s Office and Cullasaja Gorge Fire and Rescue. The public hearing on the budget will be held June 10.
Macon County Schools
The budget proposal Superintendent Joshua Lynch and Finance Officer Alayna Ledford presented on May 22 included requests for three levels of funding which would focus on the amounts necessary to maintain the school system as is, to fund the top priorities and to expand the system. The school system is seeking funds to cover budget gaps not covered by state and federal funding, which in the 2023-24 fiscal year made up 56% and 13% of the system’s revenue, respectively.
At $12,377,245.68, the “maintain” budget would include 3-4% state-mandated raises, slight benefit increases and a 5% utilities increase.
A budget of $13,274,232.94 would allow the system to fund its top priorities, which include adding an instructional coach to aid teachers and students, two full-time art teachers and two full-time music teachers to ensure that each elementary school has one each, additional funding for internships for high school seniors, an instructional technology facilitator to help improve the system’s IT department and a Pre-K teacher and Pre-K teacher assistant for Highlands School in preparation for Highlands School to add Pre-K.
The budget would include $50,000 for school nutrition in both Franklin High School and Highlands School, which do not typically qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, which allows schools to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting household applications. Also added is $10,000 for classified salary increases and an additional $49,500 for football expenses.
A $15,703,163.80 expansion budget would allow the school system to, in addition to funding its top priorities, offer 30% raises to coaches; hire teachers, a bus driver and a counselor at Franklin High School; fund a Career and Technical Education position at Highlands School; add teachers, a counselor and additional staff at Macon Early College and Macon Middle School and add additional support staff to the system.
One point of concern for commissioners at the May 22 meeting was the school system developing a sizable fund balance. At the end of the year in 2024, the fund balance, which typically hovers between $1 and $2 million, had climbed to $3.75 million. Commissioner John Shearl asked why the system wanted additional funding from the county when it had managed to build such a large balance.
During the May 28 meeting, Lynch and Ledford gave a brief presentation on the fund balance over the years. They said the system built the balance through strategic use of funds allocated through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund, which allocated federal funding for local education as assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We used ESSER funds to cover key needs related to COVID like instruction, safety and student support. With strategic use and reallocation of eligible expenses to ESSER funds,” Ledford said, “we were able to preserve local dollars and build our fund balance.”
However, the ESSER funding has ended and many of the expenses such as new positions listed by the system would require permanent funding. The system would be unable to rely on its fund balance for these as the years go by.
Lynch added that the state recommends that the fund balance contain a 2-3 month balance for payroll purposes, as well as a rainy day fund in the event of damage to facilities, such as heating or air conditioning breaking down.
“To be able to have that type of reserve gives us the fiscal responsibility as well as the security to be good stewards of the funds that we have,” Lynch said.
“If your fund balance is not there, our fund balance is your fund balance to use,” Shields said. “We have a responsibility to the Board of Education to make sure that these facilities are up to par, that they’re running healthy and well.”
“It would be wise for this board to come up with a percentage of our budget that was committed and dedicated to the Macon County school system,” Shearl said. “It would help you guys on one side, it would help the county manager and the Board of Commissioners on the other side. … Look at it as 70% state-funded, 20% locally funded and 10% federally funded … somewhere along the line we’re going to have to set a percentage in our budget for the school system.”
“Just to clarify that, from my perception it wouldn’t necessarily be a budget cut,” Chairman Josh Young said of the suggestion, “It would be more of an opportunity for you guys to manage your own budget, and we could manage our own budget.”
Once the school system discussion had concluded, Dr. Don Tomas of Southwestern Community College stepped up to discuss its funding request. Tomas agreed to Young’s request to develop a feasibility study for an $800,000 resurfacing for a driver training lot that would allow the college to offer commercial drivers’ licenses.
“If the county pitches in or pays, is there a way for you guys to waive the tuition fees for fire departments in the county?” Shearl asked. A representative from the college said there was not.
Unfilled positions
Shearl asked what was happening to 20 approved, but unfilled positions with county government.
“The funds are there for those new hires,” Shearl said. “Why aren’t we filling those positions … how are you operating these offices when you’re in a desperate need of help, but you don’t hire these people?”
Tammy Keezer, human resources and safety director, said that the county has to make hires through NCWorks, which has not been making recommendations to the county for employees.
“We don’t get involved in that, until they make a recommendation,” Keezer said. “Several of those positions … have been open for a long time. Our understanding is that applications are coming in, I do not know the details about why people are not being selected and hired, don’t know how many folks they have interviewed or not.”
Lori Carpenter noted that, when these positions are not permanently filled, the county will often hire contractors or temporary staff to fill empty slots.
Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff Brent Holbrooks asked for some money to be reallocated in the new budget. Holbrooks said he planned to enter into a contract for transportation but is unable to legally use the same service for criminals as the department uses for involuntary commitments. Instead, he would like to reallocate $175,000 – the would-be cost of the contract – to $105,000 for current transport for involuntary commitments and $73,476 to add a transport officer position to payroll. Holbrooks said he would find the difference in the upcoming budget.
The board approved the shift.
Cullasaja Gorge Fire and Rescue
During the May 22 meeting, the department’s board chair, Jack Baird, requested a fire tax increase of one cent to help cover the cost of purchasing two additional fire trucks to replace a pair of aging, 30-year-old trucks. Baird said these trucks typically have a lifespan of 20 years, and difficulty of repairing and finding parts for the trucks is outweighing the benefits of keeping them in service.
Shearl said he spoke to members of the Cullasaja fire district and they opposed the increase.
“I didn’t speak to anyone in the Cullasaja fire district that approved … I’m not talking about older people, I went to younger working class people that has family members and the response that I got back was, ‘Yes, we do support the fire department. Yes, they need a fire truck. They don’t need two fire trucks at one time; we can’t afford it.”
“You came to us … a year and a half ago,” Young said, talking about an earlier 1.6 cent increase. “How did we miss this? You came to us to build a station … why didn’t you come to us to say, ‘I got to have 2.6 cents because I have to have trucks to staff the building?”
“Why would you guys not explore the option of finding another fire truck in a different department that you would house [in] your substation?”
Baird said the board had discussed it, but that the consensus was that a used truck might have something wrong with it and that a new truck would be better.
The board voted down a measure to increase the tax by one cent and requested that the county manager prepare an option for both a half-cent increase and no increase to be presented at the June 10 meeting. This would give the locals within the department a chance to weigh in on which one they wanted ahead of the vote.
Public hearing
A copy of the county’s proposed budget is available to view online at maconnc.org/budget. A copy is also available at the reception desk in the Courthouse Annex. The public hearing for the budget will be held during the Board of Commissioners meeting, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, in the board room on the third floor of the Courthouse.