Haywood County holds public hearing on proposed $111.9 million manager budget; tax rate unchanged

The Haywood County Board of Commissioners on May 19 received public comment and a detailed presentation on the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget, with the county managerrecommended plan totaling $111,877,648 and the property tax rate remaining at 55 cents.

Will Scarborough, Haywood County budget analyst, told the commission the original departmental requests totaled $117,440,568 and the recommended budget reflects about $5.5 million in cuts. Scarborough said the recommended budget anticipates using $10,961,097 of fund balance and projects a tax collection rate of 98.18% on a valuation of $10,283,742,441.

The managerrecommended budget keeps the county's millage unchanged “based on a valuation of 10,283,742,441 this year,” Scarborough said. He walked commissioners through revenue drivers, noting property tax remains the largest revenue source, sales tax forecasts were held flat after storms impacted collections, and several one-time recovery and resiliency costs tied to Tropical Storm Helene remain in the proposed spending plan.

Why it matters: the recommended budget reflects choices about using fund balance to avoid raising the tax rate and prioritizing employee compensation, public safety and recovery spending. Commissioners and department heads pressed for details on foster care costs, recovery spending, capital vehicles and school allocations during the hearing.

Key details and drivers: Scarborough said department staffing requests totaled 22.5 positions; none were approved in the recommended budget because the additional personnel and associated vehicles and equipment would have cost roughly $2 million. Employee compensation in the proposal includes a 2% merit pool and a 3% cost-of-living adjustment, which Scarborough estimated would cost about $2.3 million. The recommended plan holds employee health insurance premiums flat for the year and reflects an expected 1 percentage-point increase in employer retirement contributions as projected by the retirement system estimators.

Foster care costs and health and human services spending were identified as major mandatory drivers. Scarborough and commissioners noted foster care expenses rose materially year over year; the recommended budget increases the county's foster care allocation by about $1 million to meet those obligations. Public safety is a significant expenditure increase in the proposed plan, largely driven by salaries and vehicle and radio-system capital needs tied to ongoing recovery work and jail debt service.

Capital and vehicles: the recommended capital budget proposes 18 vehicles at a cost of roughly $1.4 million, with public-safety vehicles the largest share. Scarborough said some ambulance work in the plan are remounts rather than full new chassis and that much of the vehicle expense includes emergency-equipment outfitting. The capital replacement line also includes facility maintenance projects (HVAC, roofing, parking/asphalt and library carpet) and kitchen and jail equipment replacements.

Education and debt: the proposed operating allocation for Haywood County Schools rises under the county's funding formula; Scarborough said the schools' operating allocation increased roughly $444,000 and Haywood Community College's allocation increased roughly $102,000 under the formula. County debt service for the jail expansion produced a near-term payment bump in the current year's schedule.

Revenue notes: property valuation losses tied to personal-property removals (about $191 million) and storm impacts (about $39 million) reduced the tax base compared with earlier expectations, Scarborough said. Sales tax collections trailed conservative prior projections after storm impacts but have recovered in recent months; the manager kept the sales-tax revenue assumption flat rather than projecting growth.

Next steps: Scarborough said the board will consider formal budget adoption at the regular commission meeting on June 2 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse. No adoption vote was taken at the May 19 public hearing.