Henderson Mayor pro tem Tami Walker said she heard Finance Director Joey Fuqua “loud and clear” at Monday’s City Council meeting when he presented the FY 2027 budget: The cost of everything is going up and that means that something has to be done to bring more money in – development is a critical part of the budget equation.
“Revenue, revenue, revenue – we’re hearing you loud and clear,” Walker said. “Let’s not waste another minute.”
She got consensus from Council members – all were present except Council Member Garry Daeke – to form a committee that will create a welcome packet for prospective developers who are looking at Henderson for any variety of projects.
Council Member Michael Venable asked Fuqua about ways to get developers to move more quickly, getting them interested and locked in to projects in the area.
Fuqua said he’s been asking for a packet for the past several years to give developers an idea of what’s available in the area to encourage and entice development.
“In the last two or three budget presentations, I’ve implored Council to develop a local package” that would include all pertinent information that a prospective developer would need. “We could also infuse economic incentives to further that process in our favor,” Fuqua said. “Make it easy for them. Schmooze them. Get them in here.”
Fuqua cited growth in towns like Franklinton and Oxford and said Henderson could really benefit from similar growth.
With the recent tousle over water allocations and attempts by Franklin County to get the General Assembly to grant it unilateral authority to take control of property in several counties that stand between it and the water supplies of Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston, Fuqua said it wouldn’t take much for legislative lobbyists to say “Hey, look what we’re doing. They’re (Henderson’s) not doing anything. We want that water.”
With expenditures outstripping revenues in the proposed budget by close to $3 million, Fuqua and staff had to rely on about $5.5 million from fund balance – again – to create a balanced budget.
As Fuqua explained it, until the FY 26 audit is complete, he won’t know exactly how much fund balance was actually needed to prop up the present budget. But the trend for the past several years has been to draw fund balance from the city’s undesignated general fund – its savings account, if you will – so it stands to reason that there will be even less money available when it comes to balancing the FY 28 budget.
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