Finance manager suspects county’s bond rating is in jeopardy if departments exceed budget or a natural disaster of any kind occurs.

By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

It’s down to the wire now.

A balanced budget is due July 1 and the Columbus County Board of Commissioners plan to adopt one at a 7:50 a.m. special called meeting on Friday June 29.

Exactly what they will be adopting is not set in stone yet.

While staff has coughed up $2 million in cuts ranging from reducing special appropriations to cutting travel by 10 percent across the board, County Manager Jim Varner and Interim Finance Officer Leo Hunt warn the county is walking on thin ice with no fund balance to use in the event of an emergency or no contingency fund if a department runs out of paper.

“That’s not a good budget; we are going to pay the price later down the road,” Varner said.
“With the cuts you have in front of you there is no contingency –you can’t go to the fund balance,” Hunt said. “I suspect you are going to violate the Local Government Commission eight percent fund balance minimum (if you do).
“My suggestion is fix the problem where it won’t come back. Either increase revenue or decrease expenditures,” Hunt declared.

Questioned cut
While Commissioner James Prevatte questioned cutting sheltered workshop funding travel for special needs adults it is not clear if the board will vote to remove the $60,000 special appropriation. County finance staff said Tuesday the appropriation was still under investigation due to confusion over an ownership change at the workshop.

Increases
While several cuts are under consideration, it appears a four-member majority (Memory, McKenzie, Norris and Jacobs) want to keep a 3 percent cost of living increase for employees. The raises remain in the budget along with four new positions at the Columbus County Detention center.

An additional drug detective Sheriff Chris Batten requested is to be removed. Four new jailers remain in the budget.

“Sometimes you have to go back to the basics,” Commissioner Amon McKenzie said but added that he was not in favor of cutting benefits or COLA “at all.”

“I would always say I would not vote for a tax increase but I feel confident that you (staff) have gone back this time and we really have a tight budget,” McKenzie said.

“We can’t go in a hole,” Chairman Sammie Jacobs said. ‘We can’t crawl under a bush.”
He said this was his 15th budget and he thought the staff could get the tax rate increase down to four or five cents. He pointed out Medicaid budgeted at just $5.4 million when the expense is expected to exceed $6 million is “living in danger.”

He explained the jail had to be built and the extra expense was inevitable.

“We can’t cut ourselves to where we can’t move,” Jacobs insisted.

Cut education
“I hate to go over that 80-cent mark –I don’t care if it’s 79.9,” Memory said of the county’s current 76.5 cent per $100 value property tax rate.
“I think if we take one penny out of education –I went over it again and there’s a lot of fat in their education budget,” Memory said. The penny would equal a total of roughly $300,000 coming from county and city schools and the community college.

“We are just not going to be able to spend money because there ain’t no money,” Memory said.
Memory said education budget proposals included Board of Education member salary increases and other expenses that don’t go to the students.

“I didn’t vote for a salary increase,” Commissioner Ricky Bullard, a former county school board member, said.

“The board has not received a salary increase in six years,” County Schools Finance Director Terry Dudney said. The board said no to an increase, Dudney said, although one was budgeted at 2 percent for all staff and members at first but the board voted it down.

There is no increase for the board of education, Dudney said.

Memory questioned school superintendent supplements.

Dudney said the superintendent and assistant superintendent get increases when teachers and staff do.

“Nine million in capital outlay is a slight toss in the bucket,” Dudney said of the county schools request for capital outlay funded at far less than requested and called for amounts far below the $150 million to get local school up to par, according to a two-year-old study.

“We have cut our budgets,” Dudney said. ‘We’re not asking for this frivolously.”

Memory then questioned the need for a central office director and $47,250 in travel expenses.
Dudney said travel was part of keeping the schools accredited and maintaining certification.
Memory then questioned the county board of education’s travel increase from $12,000 to $15,000.

Dudney said the increase was due to association fees.

Dudney went on to explain other increases in local funding due to a state allotment decreasing the budget by a principal’s salary and a half.
Memory pointed out principals’ travel totaled $21,000.

Dudney said travel and meetings needed to be attended locally and statewide.

“We’re trying to fight right here. We don’t have the luxury we here have to face the public and at the same time we’re having to cut back, yet I don’t see a lot of cutbacks in your budget,” Memory said.

“I would be ashamed to be a county commissioner and increase the sheriff’s department funding and take from education,” Bullard said. He questioned cutting cost of living raises and Christmas bonuses.

Bullard said he would support funding the schools at last year’s expenditures but no increase.

Prevatte and Gore agreed.
“I’m not in favor of cutting education not one penny what so ever,” Gore declared.
Medicaid

“Where do we stand on Medicaid?” Commissioner Bill Memory asked, bringing up that that Medicaid at $5.4 million is under budgeted with costs expected to exceed 6 million next year.

The state legislature anticipates some form of relief this year but officials say it won’t come before July 1, when the county must have a balanced budget in place.

Most of the plans under discussion involve a three to five-year phase-out with the state eventually taking over Medicaid expenses entirely.

Support sheriff
“I’ve never seen one (a budget) as tough as this one,” Commissioner Lynwood Norris said. “I’ve laid and not slept good at night.”

Norris said he understood the need for supporting law enforcement and had experienced it firsthand.

“You can’t cut to the point they can’t operate,” Norris said. “If you listen to a scanner at night you know they are on the go all the time –crime is getting more and more every day.”

Norris said he took an oath of office to do what needed to be done. “If it takes a tax increase then I just have to go with it.”

No tax increase

Commissioners Prevatte, Ronald Gore and Ricky Bullard insisted the board continue going through the budget page by page but the majority disagreed.

“I’m not going to,” Jacobs said. He told the three if they had items they questioned to call staff.
“Those $5,000 add up after a while,” Prevatte said.

Jacobs said the three were being unwilling to compromise.

“If you’re not willing to do something necessary and not willing for a tax increase, there is no way to balance the budget,” Jacobs said.

Later in the meeting he added: “There’s no need trying to balance the budget from this side of the room,” as he motioned toward Prevatte, Bullard and Gore.
Cut raises

“You can’t have it both ways,” Prevatte said pointing out Jacobs wasn’t willing to budge on cutting raises.

Memory implied as a retired school employee Prevatte saw cost of living raises even in retirement.

“There was five years I didn’t get a raise,” Prevatte declared.

At one point during the meeting Memory suggested a compromise to the employee raises by mentioning the possibility of reducing it to a two percent increase but Varner shot the thought down quickly.

“Mr. Bill, don’t balance a budget on the backs of employees. If you’ve got to get rid of employees get rid of them.”

Memory said the average county employee makes $26,000 to $27,000 a year and the cost of living increase is needed.

“We’re loosing lost of people (employees) to surrounding counties,” Memory added. “One penny (on the tax rate) is merely on a $200,000 home $10 a year.”

“I like everybody else in the county don’t want to raise taxes –I’m not in favor of raising taxes,” Gore said. “It is inevitable that we have got to raise revenue one way or another or have departments do some serious cutting it looks like.

“I know each department has needs and Columbus County has been a horse with no bridle or reins –credit cards, increasing salaries at unusual times of the year –we can’t raise taxes,” Bullard said.

The board meets Friday at 7:50 a.m. in the Dempsey Herring Court Annex to adopt the budget.