Burke County managers outline five‑year capital plan, highlight courthouse and public health building options

County Manager Bridal Efley told the Burke County Board of Commissioners on the morning of the work session that the purpose of the next two days of budget workshops is to give the board information and collect direction for the 2025–26 budget cycle.

The capital improvement plan update included a review of the county's debt-management policies, a recap of projects the county has funded the past two years and a look at several large projects that remain unfunded. Efley asked commissioners to use an 11-dot prioritization exercise planned for the next day to help finalize the county's priorities for capital and operational spending.

Why it matters: The county is balancing near-term operational needs with a long-term plan for buildings, rolling stock, and utility assets. The commission's spending policies and the capital reserve size will shape whether projects are paid out of grants and cash or financed with debt.

Efley reviewed the county's adopted debt management benchmarks and current standing. He said the county's debt-service burden is well under the policy limit: "the policy that this board has adopted is 15%. So no more than 15% of our total expenditure may be used in the payment of debt. Right now, we're at 4.4." He also said the county's 10-year payout percentage stands at about 78.5%, above the board's minimum of 50%.

On funding sources Efley said staff is continuing to pursue federal and state grants first, maintain a capital reserve (funded at roughly 1.1 cents on the tax rate, which he said equates to about $1,200,000 annually), use pay-as-you-go cash when appropriate, and employ debt proceeds only when necessary.

Major and nonmajor projects: Efley categorized projects as "major" (multi-year, building-scale investments such as the courthouse, animal services and EMS headquarters) and "nonmajor" (rooftop HVAC, roofs, rolling stock). He flagged several capital items as either funded or unfunded: - Foothills Higher Education Center: about 37,000 sq ft available to the county; possible short-term reuse option. - Courthouse: $3 million allocation included in the plan to add a courtroom and wiring upgrades tied to state IT systems; construction and wiring estimated at roughly $150,000 for wiring work alone. - Foothills and senior center roofing and rooftop HVAC replacements: single building roof estimated at about $1.2 million; rooftop HVAC replacements are phased. - Rolling stock: the county fleet was listed at about 256 vehicles; roughly 57% of rolling stock supports public safety.

Public health / Parker Ray building options: Efley and Greg Melton presented options for the 62,000-square-foot Parker Ray building (which currently houses public health, public safety administrative staff and a portion of the local school system): renovate in place with phased additions; adaptively reuse existing space; new construction (estimated ~$30–45 million depending on scope); or reuse underutilized space at Foothills. Efley cited the planning firm Chen Planning's recommendation that long-term space needs could grow to roughly 90,000 square feet based on programmatic planning.

Project status snapshots: Greg Melton (project staff) provided short updates on the courthouse, EMS headquarters and animal services construction schedules. He said the courthouse lower-floor work should be complete in late April and that the EMS masonry was near its top-out, with completion of the EMS site expected in December; animal services foundations were in place and that project was on track for an early 2026 finish.

What commissioners asked: Commissioners pressed staff about space planning for social services and whether remote workers could be brought back into county space once the school system vacates roughly 14,000 sq ft. Efley confirmed the county is tracking vacancies, projected moves and potential phased renovations to avoid overbuilding.

Ending: Efley said the next step is to take commissioner direction from the two-day workshop and finalize an updated capital improvement plan to be presented to the board within about 30 days.

Selected quotes from the meeting: - "The goal of the next 2 days is really to, give direction, allow our board commissioners to to give direction on on critical policy, as we work through the budget development process," Bridal Efley told the commissioners. - "The 10 year payout percentage is saying what percentage of your existing principal will you pay off over the next 10 years... Currently, we're at 78.5," Efley said while reviewing the county's debt policy metrics.

Sources: Remarks and slide materials delivered at the Burke County Board of Commissioners capital improvement plan work session (transcript excerpts).