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Burke County reports stronger revenue, $1.1M waste savings; FEMA reimbursement still pending
Summary
County manager presented the fiscal year 2024–25 year-end report, citing $113.8 million in revenue, a $1.1 million savings from bringing municipal solid waste transfer in-house, higher EMS collections after moving billing in-house, and a temporary drawdown of fund balance pending FEMA public assistance reimbursements.
Burke County Manager Brian Eppley told the Board of Commissioners Monday that the county closed fiscal year 2024–25 with stronger-than-expected revenue performance, notable operational savings and several one-time disaster-related costs that the county expects to recover through FEMA public assistance.
Eppley said total county revenue for the year was about $113,800,000, with property tax accounting for 53.64 percent of that total and sales tax representing about 16.75 percent. He highlighted three operational changes that contributed to improved results: bringing EMS billing in-house, resuming in-house transfer of municipal solid waste, and negotiating lower health insurance and claims costs.
"By bringing EMS billing back in-house we grew revenue from about $5.1 million to $7.5 million," Eppley said. He told commissioners that the former vendor charged roughly a 6 percent fee and that the county’s new approach eliminated that contract while improving collections. Eppley added that moving municipal solid waste (household waste) transfer work in-house produced about $1,100,000 in taxpayer savings compared with prior contracted costs.
Eppley also described other fiscal measures: investment income rose from roughly $63,000 in 2022 to about $2.1 million in the latest year (driven primarily by higher rates earlier and available cash), occupancy taxes closed at about $1.3 million, and the county maintained positive cash flow in several enterprise funds. Solid Waste posted its strongest year, with a net positive cash flow around $2.8 million (Eppley noted roughly $1.5 million of that related to extraordinary debris collection revenue tied to disaster-response work).
The manager cautioned the board that the county temporarily drew down its fund balance to help finance disaster recovery. "Had FEMA public assistance already reimbursed the roughly $11,000,000 application, our unassigned fund balance would be above the board policy target," Eppley said, adding that the county’s application had recently reached Washington, D.C., after multiple rounds of review. He said staff remain confident the funds will be returned through FEMA’s process but described it as an ongoing administrative process.
Eppley summarized capital and service highlights: continued work on EMS, animal services and courthouse projects (on time and under budget), completion of a public safety strategic plan, reduced environmental health septic permitting turnaround from about 12 weeks to less than 30 days through improved GIS dispatching, elimination of a long backlog in child welfare cases (caseloads down from roughly 31:1 to about 10–11:1), an ongoing water/sewer metering project paid by a state grant and an RFP for sewer meters to measure interconnections with municipal partners.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions and then voted 5–0 to accept the manager’s year-end report as presented.
