At the end of the nearly four-hour budget session on June 3, the County Commission voted 3-2 to increase property taxes from 37.47 to 40 cents.
The vote came with the allocation of an additional $400,000 toward a 2% cost of living adjustment for county employees, $600,000 to bring employee salaries to the level recommended in a pay study, $30,000 toward a recurring item for the library, $25,000 for a one-time item for the Nikwasi Initiative and $10,000 toward a one time item for Cowee School. Commissioners Paul Higdon and Josh Young voted against the motion.
Commissioners were set to vote on the budget following a public hearing at the Tuesday, June 8 meeting.
Chairman Jim Tate thinks the extra work county employees did over the course of COVID-19 is a reminder that compensating them fairly is a top priority. “That is, in my opinion, the most important thing that the county is doing. That’s even more important than the high school,” Tate said. “We’ve got to take care of our employees or we’re not going to have a county left.”
The Macon County Board of Commissioners spent a marathon meeting discussing requests for additions to the 2021-22 proposed budget last Thursday.
County Manager Derek Roland is cautiously optimistic about the county’s financial forecast for the new fiscal year. His proposed budget, worth $54,641,096, represents a 4.5% increase from the current fiscal year and reflects a better-than-expected state of affairs following the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. While he thinks potential resurgence of the virus in new strains should keep officials watchful, he still believes this will be a good year to maintain pre-pandemic levels of service and make gains on public safety, human services and education.
“With all signs pointing to a rebounding economy in the coming fiscal year, revenue projections for the FY 22 Recommended Budget will increase to pre-pandemic levels, enabling this organization to continue providing a high level of public service to Macon County citizens while making much needed organizational improvements,” Roland’s budget message reads. “At an estimated 51.6% of total expenditures or approximately $27,632,087, unassigned fund balance in the general fund continues to leave us prepared for unexpected emergencies within the operating budget.”
With that said, Roland’s budget leaves room for changes as the commissioners see fit, so last Thursday evening, the commissioners heard requests for additions. Fire departments were among the entities in attendance looking for some help. Chief Michael Shuler of the Burningtown-Iotla Volunteer Fire Department requested a rate increase from 0.1056 to 0.1112, worth about $12,000 annually, to help offset increasing costs of fire equipment, medical supplies, diesel fuel and more.
“As a homeowner myself in Burningtown-Iotla, I don’t like to see an increase in my taxes, but I do know as a fire chief that sometimes it’s necessary,” Shuler said.
Chief Terry Rholetter of the Otto Volunteer Fire Department asked for support from the county to build a new fire station. The current station was built in 1978 and lacks overnight lodging for firefighters and enough space for their apparatuses. Rholetter came before the commissioners last year with the same request and was rejected. Since then, the estimated cost of the new station has risen from $3.7 million to $5.4 million. To pay for the project, Rholetter suggests increasing the district’s millage rate from 0.0684 to 0.1224.
“It still wouldn’t be the highest millage rate in the county,” Rholetter told the commissioners. “We would also like you to keep in mind that Buncombe County has an average millage rate of 0.1274 for fire protection for the same services that Macon County fire departments provide.”
Superintendent Chris Baldwin expects a critical year for learning retention in Macon County Schools. The state hasn’t given clear guidance on what kind of financial support they can expect, but they will have federal money related to COVID-19 relief that has to be spent by the end of 2024. For the county’s part, Baldwin would like assistance in hiring new staff for mental health services and arts education to help put students in a better state of mind after a taxing year.
“Our focus is going to be academic losses associated with kids not being at school,” Baldwin said. “But we also know that before we can begin to address the academic losses, we need to address the social and emotional needs that have been impacted.”
Sherriff Robert Holland also spoke to the commissioners about the need for better law enforcement compensation. Holland says that officers are spread extremely thin because of too many open positions and the deputies the county has aren’t being paid enough for their work. It’s not the first time the sheriff has made this point, and he says that the situation is growing grimmer as time goes by.
“I don’t care what you take out of my budget,” Holland said. “You need to pay my officers more money.”
The commissioners voted 3-2 against increasing rates for Burningtown with commissioners Gary Shields and Ronnie Beale voting in favor, then voted 4-1 in favor of Otto’s increase with Commissioner Paul Higdon voting against. The biggest topic of conversation between the commissioners was about a plan for a new Franklin High School. Novus Architects presented a plan to the board last month that would utilize the current school site and cost between $75.8 million and $88.85 million and the board members generally approved of it. They voted in favor of putting out a bid for architectural services on the project by a margin of 4-1 with the nay coming from Beale, who argued that they weren’t committing to a fast enough timeline.
“The reality is that we’re just kicking the football again,” Beale said. “Get ready to stay in your high school for a while.”
The commissioners heard budget concerns from residents during a public session at their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday night in hopes of finalizing the budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The full budget is available to read online at www.maconnc.org/budget.html.