At Some Point it is Only About the Money | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It is Beaufort County's budget season. It happens each year whether one wants it to occur or not. During each budget season the Beaufort County Commissioners are tasked with evaluating the Beaufort County Manager's suggested budget to consider the proper fiscal path forward for Beaufort County's citizens.

    Beaufort County Commissioner's Budget Workshop, to be held at Beaufort County's Administrative Building in the Commissioner's chambers are as follows:

      Monday, May 13, 2013 @ 5:00 pm.
      Monday, May 14, 2013 @ 5:00 pm.
      Tuesday, May 28, 2013 @ 5:00 pm.

    Here below is a list of the Beaufort County Manager's highlights:

Beaufort County FY 2013-14 Budget Highlights

   The County is currently dealing with a stagnant economy with little growth or new investment being made, and few new jobs are being created to help those citizens who are struggling

   The most positive news is that the County has been able to grow its reserves or fund balance due to extremely conservative revenue projection and spending

   Proposed budget maintains current level of services with similar level of revenue as current year

   Actual revenue growth projected to be only approximately $240,000 or less than .5%

   Decreased spending of 1.3% or $723,209 over FY2013 due to a number of one-time costs that occurred in the current year

   Recommended expansion spending items of $906,988 plus continuation spending of $415,000 for education and $210,000 for a 2% COLA for County staff

    The reader must thoroughly analyze the comparison between the two budget years to take into consideration the one-time expenditures, re-occurring and expansion costs from each year.

    Recommended budget totals $54,183,411 and is presented with the following assumptions:

      No Tax Rate Increase (current rate of .53 is recommended)
      No Fee Increases
      No Reduced Level of Services to the Public

    New One-Time Expenditures
      $132,000 for contract to update and correct 911 addressing problems
      $135,870 Sheriff's Department replacement vehicles
      $54,500 Health Department Records System
      $83,500 DSS IT equipment
      $24,500 Radio Repeater
      $18,000 cataloging system for BOC minutes, agendas & ordinances

      $448,370 Total

    All of these are desperately needed to effectively conduct business

    New Re-Occurring Expenditures

      $250,000 School Current Expense Increase
      $137,940 School Capital Outlay Increase
      $175,718 Debt Service for BCCC Allied Health Building
      $210,000 County Staff COLA
      $50,582 Position Reclassifications

      $1,024,318 Total

    General Fund Revenues

      No Tax increase
      Extremely slow growth - ad valorem tax revenues increasing only .45% (historically has been at least 1.5%)
      Vehicle collection rate projected to increase to 99% due to new state system collecting at time of license renewal with County paying some costs
      Sales tax growth of 3% for FY2014

    Fund Balance Appropriation

      The recommended appropriation is $627,000 as compared to $530,379 for the current year budget
      Typically this appropriation is made annually and is never used during the fiscal year due to conservative projection of revenues and managed/controlled spending
      The budget must be balanced in this manner
      Fund balance is projected to grow to $14.2M by June 30th an increase of $1.3M over last year

    Unmet Needs

      County continues to be in a position of having numerous needs in the area of facility maintenance.
      Most buildings are in excess of twenty-five years old with varying degree of need for HVAC work, modernization, roofing work, technology needs, safety/security/ADA compliance needs.
      Director of Public Works is prioritizing all of this work and developing a plan on how to accomplish this over a period of years
      Comprehensive Planning Process taken out of the budget and determined not to be feasible at the present time
      Discussed during the Retreat and could benefit the County significantly at some point in the future

      Pay & Classification Study also taken out of the budget, this is needed to address current pay inequities
      Ideally after mid-year, the BOC may be able to consider funding this important project

    Beaufort County Schools

      Proposed budget recommends an appropriation of $12,445,150
      This is an increase of $250,000 over the current year (same as requested)
      $137,940 increase in Capital Outlay to $1.1M ($753,018 was requested)
      This includes the lottery funds which are used for debt service
      County ranks 25th out of 100 Counties in Current Expense Funding per ADM

    Transfers to Other Programs

   Proposed budget includes a complete listing of all contributions recommended to non-governmental, municipal governments or non-profits and be found on page 157 of the FY2014

    Recommended Budget

      Employee Compensation and Benefits
      Recommends a 2% employee COLA (cost of living adjustment) and an increase in the leave earning rate

    Capital Projects

      First CIP will be adopted this year and is a major step in better facility planning and use of financial resources
      Implementation of the new Tax Office Software System
     No funding proposed at this point for the Jail Project. It is anticipated the BOC will consider mid-year to move forward with the design phase of the project after the site discussions are concluded

    Beaufort County Community College

     Proposed budget recommends a total appropriation of $2,342,403 which is an increase of $27,954 over the current year
      Included is a Current Expense appropriation of $2,232,403 which is an $83,454 increase in current expense and a Capital Outlay appropriation of $110,000 which is a $55,000 decrease in capital outlay for Land Improvements related to the improvements necessary at the firing range

    Recommendations on Closeout of Current Fiscal Year

   Recommend making a one-time appropriation of $367,000 to BCCC for the roofing repairs to the Administration Building prior to the end of the current fiscal year
   This step lessens the amount of fund balance appropriation and allows for some additional flexibility in the upcoming budget.
   Recommend $179,000 for vehicle replacements for non-law enforcement departments as the current fleet is old, costly to maintain, due to poor mileage and numerous repairs needed
   Animal Control (two vehicles), Building Inspections, Environmental Health (two vehicles), Tax Office, Soil & Water Conservation, and one vehicle for general use/Board of Commissioners

    Progress Accomplished

     Past year has been busy and productive with reorganization of several departments
      Hiring of new Public Works Director, Economic Development Director and Animal Control Director
      Renewed emphasis on Customer Service and ethical standards
      The creation of several BOC committees including the IT Committee, the Animal Control Committee, the Jail Committee and Tri-Centennial Committee have all contributed to the success of the County
      The new Water System Connection Project is about to get underway and will be a major enhancement to the County's infrastructure

    Adoption of Financial Management Policies

      This recommended budget is being submitted in keeping with the recently adopted BOC policies to ensure adequate attention is given to fund balance management, debt management, maintenance of a fair tax rate, and the maintenance of competitive pay and benefits.

    Conclusion

      The proposed budget allows the County to continue on a path of very modest growth and to be well-positioned once the local and regional economy starts to rebound.

      Jim and I look forward to working with each of you as we move forward with the budget adoption process.