County Manager Cary McSwain is proposing a $131 million budget for Fiscal Year 2012-13, and no increase in the property tax rate.
McSwain presented the budget -- which reflects an increase of nearly two percent over this year's budget -- to the Board of Commissioners during their Tuesday, May 1 meeting.
Most of the requested $2.5 million year-to-year increase will be allocated to personnel costs, McSwain said, including the addition of four new detention officers and seven new paramedics. Funding for the latter will come from the Advanced Life Support [ALS] levy rather than the general property tax levy. However, the budget includes no increase in the two-cent ALS tax rate.
Lea Questions Increased Spending
"“A lot of people in Moore County who run businesses and their not increasing their budgets," Commissioner Tim Lea said, questioning the proposed budget increase.
"In some cases they are shutting down their businesses or still laying off people,” Lea continued. “Budgets aren’t increasing. They are staying the same or decreasing. We have to be sensitive to that, because, obviously, these are the people paying the taxes, giving us the opportunity to move this budget forward.”
“If we are looking to increase our budget this year from last year, some people are going to ask: Why are you able to do that, when we aren’t able to do that -- and we're the ones paying the taxes?’.”
McSwain said the proposed additions will bring the number of full time employees [FTE] to 630 -- still below the FY 2007-08 total of 644.
“The Board’s done a great job in decreasing FTE,” said Lea. “It looks like we are heading in the opposite direction.”
“Every open position is scrutinized by staff,” McSwain said, “as to whether it is necessary to fill.”
A second factor driving up personnel costs is an increase in county employee cost of living allowance [COLA] by 1.5 percent -- adding a total of $327,000 to the budget. The longevity program, which offers County employees a salary increase based on years of service, was reinstated last year by the Commissioners and will continue in the proposed budget at a cost of $464,000.
Fire tax rates in most districts are held even or reduced in McSwain's budget, with the exceptions of Robbins and Cypress Pointe which will see a two-tenths of one cent increase.
The total value of property in Moore County -- the property tax base -- is expected to increase by 1.18 percent next year.
Major Projects Underway
The budget includes two major capital projects that will be paid for within the budget year:
• Converting to the VIPER Emergency Communications system, at $5 million;
• Implementing Desktop Virtualization in County computer systems, at $500,000; and
In addition, construction is underway on the new Public Safety Complex/Detention Center, with a projected budget of $32 million and an anticipated completion date of November 4.
Also currently under construction is the $25.5 million Water Pollution Control Plant expansion which will increase capacity from 6.7 million to 10 million gallons per day.
Moore County's unemployment rate -- at 8.7 percent -- is lower than the statewide rate of 9.9. McSwain said, “We are recovering a slow growth,” adding that sales tax revenues are, “slowly and gradually increasing.”
Sales and property taxes make up eighty percent of the proposed general fund revenues for the next year, McSwain reported, with twelve percent coming from grants and six percent coming from fees.
SCC Budget Up; MCS Budget Flat
The Manager's Budget projects total FY 2012-2103 General Fund expenditures at $86 million, an increase of $1.26 million from last year. The largest expenditure category is education, consuming $38 million. Second is Human Services, which includes Social Services and the Health Department, at $18 million. Third is Public Safety, at $11.6 million.
This year Moore County Schools [MCS] sought no increase in local funding above the $26 million they received this year.
“They made the budget year easier,” McSwain said of MCS, “it helps us tremendously.”
However, Sandhills Community College did ask for a three percent increase -- $120,000 -- to help maintain and operate new buildings on campus. The Manager's budget includes that increase.
Looking back at the past few year's budgets, McSwain said: “This year is a little better than those years, and it is good to know that we are improving.”
The Commissioners will further review the proposed budget during a Thursday, May 17 Work Session.
Commissioners’ Meetings will be Videotaped
Beginning July 1, Board of Commissioners meetings will be videotaped and placed on the County website.
In a four-to-one vote, with Commissioner Craig Kennedy opposed, the Board approved IT Director Darlene Yudell's recommendations that the taping be outsourced, at an annual cost of $2,200. The first year fee includes the purchase of a camera, and thus will total $2,700.
After six months of research, Yudell said she found a company that is “trustworthy” and offers “high usability and high reliability."
“I have gotten a lot of feedback from the public,” said Commissioner Lea, who spearheaded the initiative. “It would give people the opportunity who can’t make these meetings . . . a way to look and understand what is going on in the meetings.”
During the Board’s public comment period, David Korb said videotaping the meetings will “ensure full participation in the democratic process by Moore County citizens,” while also “a benefit to public officials by providing a precise record.”
Kennedy asked the Board to wait until after the budget process is complete and more research could be done before voting on the matter.
Up to six years of videotaped meetings will be available on the web, Yudell said, after which they will be archived.
Public Works
The Board approved a $18,400 amendment to a contract with Charles R. Underwood, Inc. for the LS PW-5 rail system to return the lift station in the Pinewild subdivision back to service. The total cost of the project is now $103,000.
The Board also approved a request by Gould for a change order to Terry’s Plumbing and Utilities for the sanitary sewer improvements that will serve the ATEX Technologies project for a net decrease of $6,500, and the addition of thirty-one days to complete the project.
Public Safety
The Board approved a request by Deputy Public Safety Director Scot Brooks to utilize NC 911 funds to cover a variety of costs associated with the County's upgrade to the VIPER emergency communications system.
NC 911 funds are collected through a sixty-cent monthly charge for every wireline and wireless telephone number. The state NC 911 Board is requiring that Moore County spend $850,000 of its accumulated NC 911 fund balance by the end of FY2012, on June 30.
The County had already budgeted $270,000 of the fund balance in this year's budget, to pay for upgrades to the UHF emergency communications infrastructure to meet narrowband standards.
The Board's action in Tuesday's meeting allocates another $590,000 for other VIPER-related expenses, including the microwave link phase of the project, upgrading the VIPER infrastructure, and purchasing portable and mobile radios.
Other Business
Other Business during the Board’s Tuesday, May 1 meeting included:
• Moore County Human Resource Director Denise Brook presented Employee Service Awards.
• The Board proclaimed May Foster Parent Appreciation month, as requested by Social Services Director John Benton.
• The Commissioners proclaimed May 13 to June 17 Vulnerable Adults and Elder Abuse Awareness month, as requested by Benton.
• The Board proclaimed May 6-12 as International Compost Awareness Week as requested by Solid Waste Division Manager Chad Beane.
• The Commissioners heard a quarterly report from County Finance Director Carrie Neal about the Sandhills Center for Mental Health.
• The Board approved the reorganization of the staff at the Aging Department, which is projected to save the County $8600.
• The Commissioners approved a $40,000 increase in the contract with Sandhills Transportation for the transport of Medicaid patients, which will be paid for with Federal dollars.
• The Board approved the FY 2012-13 regular meeting schedule for the Commissioners as presented by Clerk to the Board Laura Williams.
Appointments
The Commissioners approved the reappointment of Dr. Elizabeth Lyerly as an ETJ member of the Southern Pines Planning Board.
