Pender County adopts budget that preserves tax rate and adds $150,000 merit pool for employees

Pender County commissioners approved a fiscal-year budget on June 26 that keeps the county's current property tax rate and includes roughly $5.3 million in direct investments for county employees, plus a $150,000 merit-based pool added by motion during the vote.

Finance presenter Miss Blue, county finance staff, told the board the proposal includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), a step increase for employees who have been with the county more than a year that she described as about 1.25% (roughly $570,000), and reclassifications of about 222 positions costing approximately $3.4 million, which she summarized as a roughly 12% overall increase in employee compensation from last year. "This budget does maintain the current tax rate," Miss Blue said during her presentation.

The budget also addresses the county's allocation to public schools. Miss Blue said the local school system requested $31 million to maintain services and $33 million to advance…