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| Budget tightens belt, spares tax increases |
| By blueridgenow.com |
| Published: 05/28/2009 |
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By Leigh Kelley- Times-News Staff Writer Published: Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 8:13 p.m. BREVARD — Transylvania County Commissioners got their first look at a proposed $39.2 million 2009-10 budget Monday, which has been reduced 9.3 percent from the current year’s $43.2 percent budget but contains no tax increase. In his budget message to commissioners, County Manager Artie Wilson said the failing economy meant reduced revenues from building permit fees and sales taxes. After cutting $850,000 from the proposed budget in October and scrapping $326,000 in scheduled raises in January, the county manager said the proposed budget is as lean and mean as he and county department heads can make it. “In Transylvania County over the last 10 months, new housing permits dropped 29 percent from the previous time frame last year, the unemployment rate increased from 4.4 percent in April 2008 to 9.5 percent in March 2009, sales taxes are estimated to be 7 percent below last year and fees relating to the building and real estate industry are down 41 percent from the previous year,” Wilson said. “Clearly the recession came and has impacted Transylvania County significantly. This is a bare-bones budget.” When work on the 2009-10 budget began several months ago, Wilson asked all county departments to keep operational expenses flat and to reduce their individual budgets by two percent. Waiting on the state In addition to a troubled economy, the county is also unsure what to expect from the state General Assembly. State lawmakers are facing at least a $3 billion budget shortfall for this year. The financial crisis has resulted in Gov. Perdue confiscating enrollment and lottery funds that were directed to counties and schools, Wilson said. He added that the N.C. House will most likely go along with the state Senate budget in increasing the classroom size limit, which will significantly reduce the number of teachers to be funded by the state. The 2009-10 budget request from the county Board of Education asks the county to fund 7.5 teaching positions that are affected by the change, Wilson said. County school officials are requesting a total of $9.7 million from the county, which includes $8.7 million for operating expenses and $1 million for capital needs. Another proposal being considered by the General Assembly is eliminating the $18-per-day, per-inmate allotment the state has been giving counties to hold inmates who have committed a misdemeanor and are sentenced to 30-90 days in the local jail. The impact of this would result in a loss of $35,000 to the county, Wilson said. “The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners is telling us that these drastic cuts at the state level assuredly will filter down to the county level,” he said. “What is that impact? No one knows at this time, but we are projecting the county will have to absorb at least $1 million in additional costs previously covered by the state.” County employees The proposed budget does not include any addition or reduction of personnel from the current authorized level, Wilson said. The budget reduces personnel planned for the county’s new Public Safety Facility from 22 to 19 employees as a result of the tough economic times, he said. Commissioners approved the staffing changes for the new facility a few weeks ago. The proposed budget transfers a staffer from building permitting to the maintenance department, which was needed due to the new Public Safety Facility. The addition of a telecommunicator is offset by a reduction of a public health nurse position that is vacant, he added. The proposed budget also does not include any pay increases for county employees, Wilson said. “This is the second consecutive year for this, but people are more concerned about keeping their jobs than they are in getting a pay increase,” he said. “The county is still competitive with surrounding counties.” Wilson also said the budget assumes a revenue-neutral tax rate of 39 cents per $100 of valuation. A revenue-neutral tax rate will generate the same amount of property taxes based on the new valuation. Transylvania County underwent a property revaluation this year, the first one since 2002. State law requires counties to undergo property revaluation every eight years. The county’s current tax rate is 54 cents per $100 of valuation. The proposed budget still ended up with a $400,000 deficit, but that will be taken care of by the county’s fund balance, Wilson said. Based on latest projections, the county manager said he estimated a total fund balance of $16.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2009. The state recommends counties have a fund balance of at least 8 percent. The county will still have more than a 17 percent fund balance even with the $400,000 subtraction to cover the deficit, commissioners said. Commissioners said they were pleased with the proposed budget. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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