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be averted
with planning
Monday night’s proposed 12-cent tax increase for the next fiscal year was a bombshell, though with Medicaid relief apparently on the way from the General Assembly, the increase will likely be less than 12 cents.
Nevertheless, the county is lucky the state is addressing Medicaid relief, because if not, taxpayers would be faced with the largest tax increase since the 1970s.
The county has been raiding its fund balance (savings account) over the last few years to balance the budget, and now the fund balance is on the brink of sinking below the bare-bones minimum required by the state, 13 percent. We hope the public appreciates how serious this situation is.
Debt service on the new jail and the Williams Township rebuilding project have cut into the bottom line. A new jail and improvements to any number of schools have been a long time coming, but nobody set any money aside in a capital fund to address this day when it came. Now that it has, there is a panic.
There are places where the budget can be cut. Slicing salaries for commissioners, as suggested by Commissioner Ronald Gore, is the first place to start. They’re among the highest paid commissioners in the state.
What concerns us as much as finding places to cut expenses, though, is that the county has not had, nor does it look to have anytime soon, a long-term plan for capital expenditures.Schools will always need new roofs, not to mention that many of the county’s 50-year-old-plus schools will need replacing or major renovations in the future.
Previous boards of commissioners, including some sitting on the current board, have not committed money over the long term to deal with budget issues like a new jail. Because commissioners kept putting the jail project off year after year without saving money to build it, there is a budget crisis.
Additionally, projects that would bring the county growth and revenues in the future, such as a wastewater treatment plant on the Cape Fear River, are mere afterthoughts.
Anyone who follows county government could see this day coming for some time.
What’s important now is for the board to do a massive reversal and use this budget to start planning for the future. This should include replenishing the fund balance and setting aside money in a capital fund for schools and proactive economic development projects that will bring in revenues.
The county should also address other ways to raise revenues, such as user fees and means other than relying on property taxes.
The bottom line, however, is that there’s no need for budget crises if proper planning is done all along and money is set aside for the future in both the good years and bad.