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Surry County commissioners tentatively trim budget, set school capital at $3.30 per student and a 1.5% COLA; seek legal review on pension "spiking" limits
Summary
Surry County commissioners met June 3 in Dobson for a budget work session and by consensus raised school capital to $3.30 per student, approved $350,000 in county school supplement funding and a 1.5% employee COLA, approved state-requested DSS positions, declined a $500,000 alternative education request and several late nonprofit requests, and asked staff to draft and seek legal review of language that would bar county funds from being used for pension- or salary-related "spiking" liabilities by local school systems.
Surry County commissioners met in a June 3 budget work session in Dobson and moved through the recommended 2025-26 budget, agreeing by consensus on several changes while asking staff to seek legal advice on language that would bar use of county funds for certain retirement “pension spiking” charges by school systems.
The board agreed to raise the school ADM (average daily membership) capital allocation to $3.30 per student (up from $3.12 last year) by increasing the PayGo capital cap from $3,000,000 to $3,250,000; approved a $350,000 county supplement for schools; approved state-requested personnel increases in the Department of Social Services; and set employee cost-of-living adjustments at 1.5% instead of the recommended 2%. Commissioners also declined to include a $500,000 alternative education program request and rejected several late nonprofit funding requests submitted through the county’s Neighborly portal.
Why it matters: the board’s changes affect school capital and operating support, county personnel costs, public safety equipment and grant-funded nonprofit programs; commissioners said some requests were new or came too late for inclusion in this tight budget year.
Most important decisions and votes
- School capital per-student: After discussion of enrollment counts and the PayGo cap, commissioners said “we’re going $3.30” for the capital allocation; staff calculated that the $3,250,000 cap would produce a total of about $3,155,460 under the new ADM figures. This was adopted by board consensus rather than a formal roll-call vote.
- County school supplement: Commissioners agreed to fund a $350,000 supplement (14.3% increase over prior allocation) intended for school personnel; board members emphasized they expect funds to flow to classroom-level staff.
- Millennium Charter Academy: The board agreed to provide a share for a school resource officer (SRO). Commissioners discussed the exact share; the transcript records an $8,333 figure in one exchange and later a staff-confirmed county contribution of $28,333; the board stated it would match the same contribution made for Mount Airy City Schools and fund the county share for the SRO while declining the school’s capital request.
- Alternative education request: A $500,000 request for an alternative education program was not included; commissioners repeatedly said the budget could not sustain a new $500,000 recurring commitment this year.
- Nonprofit and new requests: Several new or late nonprofit requests (for example, Mountain Valley Hospice and others submitted through Neighborly) were not recommended and commissioners voted or concured to deny them for this budget cycle. Separately, some commissioners pledged to use Invest in Surry (commissioner-designated investment) funds to cover selected nonprofit items outside the operating budget.
- Capital requests and sheriff in-car cameras: Departments submitted roughly $5.2 million in capital requests; staff recommended $957,997. About half of the recommended capital total was for replacement of 48 end-of-life Motorola in-car camera systems for the sheriff’s office (the sheriff’s office reported parts and data access problems for the current systems). Commissioners asked staff to confirm recurring subscription or licensing costs associated with the camera systems before approving expenditure and flagged the cameras as a large near-term pressure on the capital budget.
- DSS personnel expansion: The board approved state-requested additional positions in the Department of Social Services, which commissioners said were needed to reduce caseload pressure and improve service timeliness.
- COLA: The recommended 2% county employee COLA was reduced by consensus to 1.5%, which staff estimated would save approximately $87,500 from the recommended budget.
- Tax rate discussion and timing: Commissioners discussed revenue-neutral calculations and considered a property tax rate near 51.3¢ per $100 valuation (current recommended 51.8¢; revenue-neutral referenced near 49.6¢). A motion to adopt a 51.3¢ tax rate was introduced during the session; board members also discussed adopting the full budget at the meeting or delaying formal adoption until the next regular meeting on June 16. Staff noted the board may adopt the budget anytime before the statutory June 30 deadline.
- Pension-spiking restriction for school allocations: One commissioner proposed, subject to county attorney review, including language in the budget ordinance that would prohibit county funds from being used—directly or indirectly—to pay costs arising from actions characterized as salary or pension “spiking” under North Carolina law. The board directed staff to review legal authority (citing North Carolina General Statute language discussed in the meeting) and agreed in principle to include contingent language in the budget ordinance pending legal counsel’s approval.
Discussion and context
County Manager Chris Kanoff opened the session by reviewing the schedule change this year (recommended budget presented in May, public hearing already held and the work session following the hearing) and told the board “you’re free and clear to do as you please at this point” about adopting the budget. Commissioners spent substantive time reconciling school allocations (capital and operating), balancing new requests against limited one-time or enterprise revenue, and prioritizing recurring obligations such as DSS staffing and public safety equipment.
Commissioners repeatedly emphasized timing and fairness: several said late or new requests (including some nonprofit applications submitted after the recommended budget was completed) could not be funded this cycle but could be revisited in a future year. On school funding, commissioners discussed ADM counts for Surry County (roughly 6,960 county students reported in the transcript), Mount Airy (about 1,723) and Elkin (about 879 in-county plus roughly 250 out-of-county students), and said the revised capital allocation formula was intended to distribute PayGo capital more equitably among the district partners.
What remains unresolved
Formal adoption of the full 2025-26 budget and a final property tax rate were left for either a vote later in the meeting or at the board’s June 16 regular meeting. The proposed ordinance language restricting county funds for pension spiking requires review by the county attorney; staff said the restriction, if legally defensible, would be added to the budget ordinance prior to formal adoption.
Ending
Commissioners closed the session after summarizing agreed changes and the items they asked staff to check (cost and subscription details for in-car cameras; legal review of proposed school funding restrictions). The board left open the option to adopt the budget at the June 3 meeting or delay until the June 16 regular meeting; the county manager reminded commissioners the statutory deadline for adoption is June 30.
(Full transcript excerpts and staff spreadsheets support the figures above.)
