Tag Archive for: #vancecountybudget

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Vance County Adopts Budget; Fire Study Coming

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners adopted the upcoming fiscal year 23-24 budget Wednesday afternoon. The special called meeting led to a 6 to 1 vote to adopt the budget as presented by the county manager.

Immediately after the budget was approved, the board adopted a motion which freezes the four empty, full time Vance County Fire Department positions and stops funding of any new capital expenses. That motion carried 5 to 2.

After about 90 minutes of meeting time and some heated discussion, it’s clear that a fire study is coming. And unlike some meetings that see motions, seconds, discussion and votes on topics, several sequences were gone through like that. In the process, two motions and seconds were withdrawn and another voted down.

In the short term with the likelihood that the study will take up to 90 days to complete once started, some commissioners and citizens may draw the conclusion that a reasonable compromise was reached.

From the angle of the fire service, which has been closely discussed publicly and by the citizenry in the last 35 to 40 days, there is a general maintaining at this point of the status quo. With the budget in place, a freeze in place, and the study coming, the board, with a great deal of county staff help, has preserved its option to act on the study, including amending the budget.

After the meeting, Finance Director Katherine Bigelow said, “What is being approved is freezing the four vacant Vance County Fire Department positions and their capital expenses consisting of turnout gear and fire boots, for example,” as she went over some items with WIZS.

Interim County Manager Scott Elliott said, “At the July 10 meeting, staff will bring forth the proposed scope of the work to be conducted by the fire study and seek board approval and for execution of a contract,” as he spoke to WIZS.

The roughly $57.5 million budget calls for no increase in the property tax, holding at 89 cents per $100 valuation, as well as appropriating more than $1.8 million from the fund balance to plug a gap between expected expenses and expected revenues. The proposed budget is 4.5 percent more than the 2022-23 budget.

The budget does increase part time firefighter pay to $15 per hour from $14. The $16 amount was part of the public safety committee recommendation and that recommendation was not included in the budget.

The “reorganization” of the Vance County Fire Department is not occurring at this time.

Vance County Fire Chief Chris Wright remains the Vance County Fire Marshall at this time.

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TownTalk: A Look At The Vance Co. Budget

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Vance County residents can expect no increase in property tax rates or other fees if the commissioners approve the $55 million budget presented to them earlier this month.

The commissioners are expected to decide at their June 6 meeting, according to information from County Manager Jordan McMillen.

The proposed budget represents a 6 percent increase – or roughly $3.3 million – in the 2021-22 budget, and McMillen said the county is in a position to further plans to create a shell building in the industrial park, which will be a boost for future jobs and local investment.

The budget will use more than $1.6 million from the general fund balance.

“We do anticipate our fund balance increasing over the next year or so,” McMillen said in an email to WIZS News. He attributes this expected increase mainly to increased tax collections and, unfortunately, vacancies in some of the larger county departments and added that he anticipates moving additional fund balance money to plan longer term for future capital needs.

The property tax base is increasing $95 million from the prior year which, along with an increased tax collection rate, will account for $1.1 million in additional property tax revenue, according to the budget information presented to the commissioners for review.

The sales tax is projected to be $2.8 million more to the 22-23 budget than in the current budget. This increase will help fulfill recommendations from the recent salary study for county employees.

The proposed budget also has increased support for the fire department, with the addition of three new fire engineer positions – one for each shift.

McMillen said having such revenue growth in both property tax and sales tax is not something that the county is used to. “ I have not seen a situation where both property tax and sales tax were up to the degree it is right now,” he said. “Both are explainable when you look into what is making up the tax base growth and when you account for the pandemic’s impact on sales tax spending.,” he said, adding that he doesn’t anticipate it to be a “continual pattern.”

View the proposed budget here: https://www.vancecounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MASTER-File-Website.pdf

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The Local Skinny! Public Hearing June 7 To Discuss Proposed County Budget

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WIZS – The Local Skinny! May 24

The proposed Vance County budget is in its final stages, and could be approved as early as June 7, when the next public hearing is scheduled, according to County Manager Jordan D. McMillen.

“We are looking to hold the tax rate steady at 89 cents per $100 in value and are not proposing any increases in water usage fees or fire tax,” Jordan said in a written statement to WIZS News Monday.

The solid waste household fee most likely will rise from $117 to $120 to assist in covering increasing disposal costs, as well as a “large influx of solid waste that has been seen during the pandemic,” McMillen said.

The major increase in revenue in the new budget comes from sales tax revenue, he noted. The current budget – created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – was conservative in anticipated sales tax revenue, McMillen said. He expects an additional $2 million in sales tax revenue over the current budget, and that bump will help the county avoid a tax increase for the coming year.

“Without the increase in sales tax, we would have been in a much different situation that could have facilitated a tax increase for the coming year,” he said.

On the property tax side and tax base we are expecting a $20 million increase in the county tax base, which will bring in roughly $100,000 in property tax revenue. McMillen said the county typically sees between $100,000 to $200,000 in property tax increases each year.

The county will begin a revaluation process in early 2022, which will result in new property values in 2024. Based on the current market, the department of revenue is telling us our tax values are significantly lower than what properties are selling for, McMillen said. “With this in mind, property owners are getting a better value than we are taxing currently.”

“All in all, the board appears satisfied thus far with our budget work for next fiscal year,” McMillen said. He presented the recommended budget earlier this month, and the commissioners have held two work sessions since then – one on May 11 and a second on May 13. Commissioners may elect to approve the budget following the June 7 public hearing, McMillen said, or may decide to call an additional work session before the budget is adopted.

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Vance Commissioners Approve County, Water District Budget

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen provided WIZS with the following summary of the Vance County Board of Commissioners’ special called meeting held Monday, June 15, 2020:

County Budget – The total general fund budget is $49,498,430, with $1,310,356 used from fund balance to balance the budget. The overall budget with all funds combined is $60.7 million. The budget includes no increase in the general fund property tax rate (remains at .89 cents), no increase in the fire tax rate (remains 8.9 cents), and a $5 increase in the solid waste household fee. Overall, the budget addresses the Board’s top priorities for the coming year while moving the county forward and maximizing county services with limited revenue growth.

Water District Budget – The total water district budget is $1,250,689, which includes a general fund transfer of $261,885. The budget holds the usage rate at 10.33 per $1,000 gallons. We currently have $1,338 active metered customers on the system and believe it will take 1,600 to 1,650 to break even assuming we do not take on any additional debt for the system.

Maria Parham Incentive – Maria Parham Health is in the process of adding a cardiac cath lab which will increase the tax value over $3.2 million and add over 25 jobs with an average wage of over $60,000. As a result of this, we have been discussing an economic development incentive agreement with Maria Parham for several months. We were unable to hold the necessary public hearings and approve the agreement last night due to restrictions that were previously in place related to COVID-19 and public hearings.

Eaton Johnson – The Board approved financing for the project and awarded the contract for the renovation of the former Eaton Johnson Middle School building to Danco Builders, who was the lowest qualified bidder. We will need approval of the financing from the Local Government Commission which meets on July 7, but after that, we will be finalizing contracts and work will begin for the 10-month project to renovate Eaton Johnson for use by DSS. The construction cost approved was $3,030,856.38 and the total project budget with engineering and other contingencies included is $4,531,662. We are hopeful for an August 1, 2020, start date which would put completion in April or May of next year.

Vance County’s approved budget documents and Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) can be viewed on the County’s Board of Commissioners website (click here).

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McMillen Provides Overview of Recommended Vance Co. Budget Changes

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen provided WIZS with the following summary of the Vance County Board of Commissioners’ meeting held Monday, June 1, 2020:

We held three public hearings last evening in regard to the overall FY 2020-2021 budget, the water budget and the economic development budget. We are on schedule to adopt the budget during our special meeting on June 15 and are not anticipating any additional work sessions unless the Board decides otherwise.

Overall, there have only been a few changes the board has made to the recommended budget. The changes are as follows:

– Increased revenue into the general fund due to transferring $41,903 from economic development fund as the result of revenue from Triangle North to offset expenses.

– Increased EMS capital outlay $1,400 to account for the increased cost of camera installation.

– Increased revenue and expenditures by $12,295 due to Emergency Management COVID-19 grant.

– Moved $6,000 from the 4H budget to the Cooperative Extension budget to cover the salary for the 4H position.

– Adjusted state revenues and expenditures for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) based upon funding grid approved by the JCPC Board on May 28, 2020.

– Added four additional vehicles to the sheriff’s office budget to fully fund the sheriff’s request for eight vehicles – $144,000 additional cost to be financed.

We are running the final numbers on the budget and will have the overall budget and revised appropriation from fund balance in the next day or so.

WIZS Note:

On today’s edition of Town Talk, Sheriff Brame briefly addressed last night’s meeting and said he was pleased with the outcome for the sheriff’s office. “I thank the County Commissioners for being in favor of what I asked for. I understand this is crunch time, and everyone knows we are in an economic fallout due to COVID-19. I’m pleased that the commissioners are working with the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and other County agencies.”

To see the recommended budget (prior to the June 1 Commissioners’ meeting), click here. To hear a recent Town Talk interview with McMillen regarding the budget, click here.

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Vance Co. Proposed FY 2020-21 Budget Includes Cost of Living Adjustment

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

In a followup to his discussion on WIZS Town Talk last week, Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen reported that the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Vance County proposed budget does include a three percent cost of living adjustment.

The $49,268,824 proposed budget was presented to the Vance County Board of Commissioners at their May meeting and includes four major recurring items that increase the budget expenditures by more than $100,000 each. These items include a cost of living adjustment for County employees, a state-mandated increase in retirement costs for employees, new departmental positions/overtime increases and increases in jail healthcare to change medical providers.

The cost of living adjustment totals $522,120 and is deemed necessary as the County’s starting and current salaries are falling behind inflation and beginning to fall behind neighboring jurisdictions, according to McMillen. “A cost of living adjustment not only moves employees’ salaries up, but it also moves the entire salary schedule upward adjusting starting salaries by the same percentage. Although human resources recommends we implement a five percent cost of living adjustment for the upcoming year, we were only able to include three percent due to lack of revenue growth,” McMillen explained.

McMillen said it would be advisable to revisit revenues in the early part of 2021 to see if further adjustments can be made to the salary schedule mid-year. The last cost of living adjustment given to County employees was one-and-half percent in January 2017, and, since that time, inflation has increased over six percent.

Additionally, McMillen stated that Granville, Franklin, and Warren counties are currently undertaking a salary plan which will cause Vance County’s salaries to fall even further behind.

A public hearing to receive citizens’ comments on the proposed budget will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 1. To adhere to current social distancing guidelines, the public is asked to email comments regarding the budget to Vance County Clerk Kelly Grissom at KGrissom@vancecounty.org prior to the hearing or up to 24 hours after the hearing.

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Town Talk 05/14/20: Vance Co. Manager Discusses Proposed 2020-21 FY Budget

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen appeared on WIZS Town Talk Thursday at 11 a.m.

McMillen discussed the $49,268,824 proposed Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Vance County Budget as presented to the Vance County Board of Commissioners at their May 4, 2020, meeting and as discussed in Board work sessions on May 12 and 13.

A public hearing to receive citizens’ comments on the proposed budget will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 1. To adhere to current social distancing guidelines, the public is asked to email comments regarding the budget to Vance County Clerk Kelly Grissom at KGrissom@vancecounty.org prior to the hearing or up to 24 hours after the hearing.

The $49.27 million budget represents a decrease of $84,750 from the current year’s amended budget, due in large part to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and the projection of lower revenues, particularly sales tax revenues, in the new fiscal year.

McMillen said coronavirus will have an impact on the economy and local budgets well into the new fiscal year, and possibly for the remainder of 2020.

“Economists are saying it will have an impact at least through the first quarter of the new fiscal year and maybe through the second quarter, which takes us through the end of the calendar year,” McMillen stated. “We haven’t seen the full impact of the current fiscal year yet because revenues come in three months after the sale, so we’ll see that impact in June, the last month of our current fiscal year.”

Considering a continued pattern of minimal revenue growth, uncertainty around the virus, no proposed tax increase and more funding requests this year than in previous years, McMillen said it was not feasible to include approximately $3.5 million in requested funding in the new budget.

“When we talked early in the spring, we said this was the year we really needed to have a tax increase, but when coronavirus came around, we were able to present a budget without a tax increase,” McMillen said. “If we funded all requests, we’d have to raise taxes 13.5 cents just to cover the $3.5 million.”

Among the items not included in the budget:

  • 12 of 15 requested new positions across various County departments;
  • A $100,000 increase to Vance County Schools funding;
  • Approximately $500,000 in requested roof repairs and renovation costs at Vance-Granville Community College

McMillen said the proposed budget allows Vance County Commissioners to meet top priorities and goals set at the Board’s planning retreat in January, including:

  • Funding a community paramedic (EMS) position
  • Completing renovations of the former Eaton Johnson Middle School building to house the Vance County Department of Social Services with an anticipated completion date of June 2021.
  • Increasing jobs and investments through economic development – additional marketing funds included in the Henderson-Vance Economic Development budget.

To hear the interview with McMillen in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.

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Vance County Revenues Expected to Increase for FY 2018-19

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The Vance County budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, a grand total of $56,131,498, was adopted unanimously at the June 4, 2018, Vance County Board of Commissioners meeting.

According to County Manager Jordan McMillen, despite a lack of increase in the general fund tax rate or water rates, revenues will increase slightly over prior years with property tax and sales tax providing an additional $934,675 in revenue. This increase is due to natural growth and other considerations as outlined below:

 Property Taxes – Increase of $607,938 or 2.7% due to natural growth. The tax collection rate increased from 96.39% to 96.65% which had a positive impact of $62,000 on the tax revenue; 1 cent on tax rate totals $257,523.

 Sales Taxes – Projected 3.7% or $326,737 increase over FY 18 budget which is attributable to natural growth and an expansion of the items and services currently taxed. The county continues to receive sales tax proceeds from the states Article 44 redistribution which began in FY 17. It is estimated the county will receive $262,186 in FY 19 from this distribution which must be designated for economic development, schools or the community college.

 Ambulance Revenue – Decrease of $115,000. Revenues remain consistent with the levels from previous in-house collections and are adjusting down based upon increases in previous two years from catching up current year collections. Changes in Medicaid payments and state personal income tax laws impacting debt setoff collections have had a negative impact as well. As per recommendation from billing company, EMS billing fees change from set fee based upon type of service (i.e. ALS, BLS, etc.) to a percentage of the allowable Medicare reimbursable rate and includes billing insurance for supplies utilized.

 Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Revenue – level at $140,000. The county receives 85% of the net revenue from the ABC profits.

 Overall state DSS revenues are projected to decrease $2,323,591 while federal and local DSS revenues remain level. The decrease is due to the state taking over payment of the daycare subsidies and Medicaid transportation programs with a minor decrease in foster care/ adoption expenditures due to a lower number of children in the program.

 Building inspection revenues – level at $300,000. Residential development is rebounding, which has helped this revenue remain stable with the recent decline in solar farm activity. The budget includes minor additions and changes to the inspection fee schedule.

 Jail Revenues – Increase of $63,000 due to jail commissary commissions

 School Resource Officer Revenue – Increase of $72,639 due to adding 5th SRO position and associated costs. This cost is paid for 100% by Vance County schools.

 Lease Proceeds Revenue – Decrease of $19,000

 Register of Deeds Revenue – Increase of $12,500; Animal Services revenue increases $7,900 due to the higher number of adoptions and includes fee schedule additions to establish fees for various animal types and for additional microchip service.

 Investment earnings – Increase of $5,500

 Revenues from other funds decreased $119,082 primarily due to transferring less sales tax dollars into the general fund to fund school capital outlay projects.

 Appropriations from fund balance – $1,455,008 compared to $1,159,957 in FY 17-18. We anticipate spending approximately $500,000 of this due to pay go in the CIP and to allow a portion of fund balance to be spent.

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Vance County Budget 2018-2019 Unanimous Decision

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The Vance County budget for 2018-2019 was adopted unanimously at Monday night’s Vance County Board of Commissioners meeting.  When all the funds are added up, the budget equals $56,131,498.

“The budget does not include any increase in the general fund tax rate (remains 89 cents per $100 value) and does not include any increase in the water rates. The budget does include an increase of 2 cents in the fire tax rate taking that rate to 6.4 cents per $100. This increase is directly related to increased funding for the departments from the fire tax. The Solid Waste Fee also increased to $112 ($7 increase) per household and is a direct result of rising electronics waste costs,” County Manager Jordan McMillan told WIZS News.

The extra fire tax will help give some relief to volunteer departments across the county who spend countless hours in fundraising mode every year.  The Vance County Fire Department will also benefit as explained on page 11 of a 12 page document of budget highlights.  It says: “Fire Tax Fund – Fire tax increases to 6.4 cents (2 cent increase) to allow for funding of $100,000 to each of the six volunteer departments and one county department, with two border departments receiving $67,500 each from the fire tax. This is a $39,400 increase for each department from their current level of $60,600 and a $37,200 increase for the border departments.”

The extra solid waste fees will help address the fact that electronics can be disposed of properly in Vance County now, a service that is fairly new and thus the charges incurred by the County are also new.

As McMillan also explained, “With the increased solid waste fee the board did approve opening the NC 39 Hwy North Solid Waste Convenience Site on Sundays from 1-6 p.m. between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We anticipate opening it this year by the end of June with subsequent years being between Memorial Day and Labor Day.”

Priorities in the budget are education, public safety and human services which use about 75 percent of the general fund budget.

McMillan added that the budget addresses employee retention and pay by “funding  the second and final phase of the salary and classification study, along with a one-time bonus for county employees.”

McMillan emailed WIZS News some additional bullet points about the budget which are listed below.

  • The budget works to improve the health of Vance County citizens through increased operational funding for the health department in accordance with a multiyear funding plan established with Granville County and the health department.
  • The budget modernizes county information technology assets by moving the tax office software to the cloud, implementing online based job applications, replacing network switches and a storage server, beginning upgrades to Windows 10, and providing for normal PC/monitor replacements.
  • The budget advances the county’s efforts to develop sites for economic development, attract investment and create jobs by setting aside a portion of the redistributed sales tax proceeds for the purchase of land.
  • The budget invests in education and 21st century learning by providing $1,337,000 in capital to Vance County Schools to support lease payments on teacher devices, to provide matching grant funds for a z-space 3-dimensional learning environment, for ADA compliance upgrades, activity bus replacements and other requested school capital needs.
  • The budget addresses funding needs for the volunteer fire departments.
  • The budget invests in one-time capital needs by implementing the FY19 CIP (Capital Improvement Plan). The projects include purchasing mobile CAD hardware, a jail intercom and door modernization project, replacing/repairing courthouse seating, replacing courthouse HVAC systems, admin building window replacements, Dennis building wall repairs, and a cardiac monitor purchase for EMS.