The Cumberland County Commission approved a $157.2 million budget for the 2023-’24 fiscal year, including a 6% raise for county employees, investment in county buildings and updates to emergency equipment.
And, the budget keeps the county’s tax rate at $1.135 per $100 of assessed value — a rate that ranked the county as the lowest tax rate in the state last year.
“I would say the major challenge this year was to have a competitive rate of pay,” Cumberland County Finance Director Nathan Brock said during the public hearing held prior to the commission’s special-called meeting Monday afternoon.
Sue York, 1st District commissioner, said she was glad to see the budget addressed the pay rate of the county’s lowest-paid employees. The county’s starting wage is now $11.53
“I’m glad we raised them up,” York said. “It’s not a whole lot, but they do get the 6%, too.”
Nancy Hyder, 2nd District commissioner, said the issue of part-time pay for county employees was brought to the budget committee’s attention by Tom Isham, 2nd District commissioner. He spoke with an employee in the Register of Deeds office who was making $9 an hour.
“That brought our attention to a lot of things,” Hyder said.
Hyder did noted the county’s pay raises impact all employees. She pointed to the school system budget, which includes an 8% increase for certified employees and 4% for noncertified employees.
“We’d like to see that maybe a little bit better next year,” Hyder said. “Everybody pays the same amount for a gallon of milk.”
Director of Schools William Stepp said the issue of employee compensation was “on their radar.”
“Everybody who knows me knows I value every employee,” Stepp told the commission. “We can’t get students to learn without all the other jobs happening. So those are some of the most important people in the county for us. They really are.”
Last year, the school system included raises for most noncertified positions, with a new wage scale that increased overall pay, though amounts varied. For example, starting pay for a maintenance worker increased 17%, with a 3% increase for each year the person is employed by the school system. Certified personnel received a 4.8% salary increase last year.
“We’re trying to keep it as equitable as we can,” Stepp said.
The county budget is funded by local property taxes, local sales tax collections and a variety of state revenues. The commission is tasked with determining appropriations for various departments, setting the property tax rate and determining how the tax rate is distributed among the departments.
Cumberland County’s $1.135 tax rate will be divided:
• 73.91 cents to the county general fund
• 12.38 cents to the solid waste fund
• 8.36 cents to the school fund
• 18.85 cents to the debt service fund
The county expects to collect about $25.3 million in property taxes next year, with about $21.9 million in sales tax. Brock noted 92.5% of county local-option sales tax collections go to the county general fund school budget or to school debt service.
Hyder moved to approve the tax levy, supported by Jerry Cooper, 7th District commissioner. The motion was unanimously approved.
Next, the commission considered a new pay scale and classification schedule for county employees. This includes a 6% raise for every employee and specific salary reclassifications requested by departments during the budget process.
York moved to approve the pay scale, supported by Rebecca Stone, 3rd District commissioner. The motion was unanimously approved.
Next, the commission considered the appropriations and budgets of each of the county’s funds:
• County General Fund — $37.9 million
• Courthouse and Jail Maintenance Fund — $216,000
• Solid Waste Fund — $4.1 million
• Special Revenue Fund — $2 million
• Drug Control Fund — $185,900
• Railroad Authority — $131,358
• Highway Department — $6.9 million
• General Purpose School Fund — $70.3 million
• School Federal Programs — $20.1 million
• Central Cafeteria Fund — $8 million
• General Debt Service — $7.1 million
Joe Sherrill, 6th District commissioner, and Greg Maxwell, 8th District commissioner, moved to approve the budget appropriations.
The county’s general fund budget will dip into the county’s $16.6 million fund balance to fund a deficit of $820,863.
The general fund also includes about $1.7 million in capital purchases — like fire trucks, ambulance remounts, technology equipment and building repairs. That will be funded through the county’s debt service fund balance — estimated at $16.6 million for the 2022-’23 fiscal year.
This fund is budgeted to end the year with a $17.8 million balance. However, this is often where the commission looks to fund large projects without taking on additional debt. The county will soon be moving forward with a repair and renovation project at the Cumberland County Courthouse, a project which was not included in the budget.
Other funds will also use reserves to balance their budgets:
• Sanitation Fund — $666,395 from the $1.8 million fund balance
• Highway Fund — $1.1 million from the $4.1 million fund balance
• General Purpose School Fund — $1.74 million from the $7.3 million fund balance
Isham, who was not part of the budget committee, said he attended most of the panel’s meetings, noting the commissioners had worked hard on the budget.
“The majority of the things I agree with,” Isham said. “There’s a few things I didn’t agree with, so I’m going to vote no … If I don’t agree with something, I just can’t vote yes.”
Isham did not elaborate on the specific items in the budget he was concerned with, but noted it was several items, both in the appropriations and the nonprofit donations.
Stone, who is a member of the budget committee, said there had been items she voted against during the budget deliberations that did pass.
“If you only disagree with two things, it’s probably a good budget,” Stone said. “There were several things I was outvoted on by the committee, and I still think this was a very good budget … We got a lot of things everybody was certain they wanted. We’re not raising taxes. I might disagree with some of the decisions, but this is a very strong budget.”
Isham said his concerns are more than just “two” things. He had said “two” in reference to the resolutions voted on as part of the budget approval process. He declined to elaborate on his concerns following the meeting.
The motion was approved with Isham opposed.
The county approved donations to nonprofit organizations totaling $229,000, with an additional $5,000 earmarked in the fire department budget for fire protection enhancement for Renegade Mountain community.
David Gibson, 4th District commissioner, moved to approve the donations as presented, supported by Stone. The motion was approved with Isham and Charles Seiber, 4th District commissioner, voting against.
Also approved were increases in the rate of pay for machine technicians for the election commission, $600 a month during the months of an election cycle and $250 retainer during non-election cycle months. The Election Commissioners will be paid $250 a month.
Wendell Wilson, 6th District commissioner, moved to approve the pay increases, supported by Hyder. The motion was unanimously approved.
Not present for the meeting were the following commissioners: Dewey Walker, 1st District; Deborah Holbrook, 8th District; Colleen Mall and John Patterson, 9th District.