Yancey County manager presents balanced $37.08 million budget; recommends holding property tax rate at $0.52

County Manager Lynn Austin presented the Yancey County proposed fiscal year 2025-2026 budget at the board's June 9 meeting, describing a balanced general fund with total revenues and expenditures of $37,084,332.

"The proposed budget sets forth a plan of operations for all County departments, programs, and capital projects for the coming year," Austin said in the written budget message. The message, submitted under North Carolina General Statute 159-11, also states: "This proposed budget is balanced in accordance with the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act with general fund revenues and expenditures each totaling $37,084,332."

Austin's message attributes revenue uncertainty to the county's 2024 property reappraisal and damage from Hurricane Helene, noting that department funding requests exceeded projected revenues by $432,610 during the development process. To produce a balanced budget, management recommended keeping the property tax rate at $0.52 per $100 of valuation; the budget message projects that rate would yield an estimated $18,063,601 in property tax revenue for the general fund. The county's property appraisal roll is listed at $3,473,769,423, and the message reports a current property tax collection rate of 98.48 percent.

The proposed budget frames spending priorities around three stated county goals: restoring and maintaining fiscal integrity, maintaining essential public safety and human services, and making strategic investments to support economic prosperity. Major line items and allocations described in the manager's message include:

- Schools: an allotment of $3,618,872 to Yancey County Schools, plus additional pass-through and designated amounts including $953,508 for debt service on Blue Ridge Elementary School, $826,666 for Yancey County Schools capital projects, and $40,000 from timber-sale revenue, bringing the total identified funding to $5,430,045.

- Public safety: the Sheriff's appropriations noted in the message total $6,036,393 (about 16.3 percent of the general fund) and include the sheriff's department ($2,495,470), dispatch ($923,468), county detention ($1,749,983), county grounds security ($857,472) and a $10,000 non-departmental juvenile inmate confinement line.

- Social services and recovery: the Department of Social Services is highlighted for its disaster response work after Hurricane Helene; the manager's message references continued use of federal and state disaster grants and donations and mentions ongoing programs such as the Safe Babies Court initiative.

- Capital projects and recovery work: the message describes several capital projects under way or planned, including Ray-Cort Park Phase II (funded in part by a PARTF grant and a 50 percent local match), the recently completed Kid Mountain Park (PARTF and local match), multiple water and sewer infrastructure projects funded by state appropriations (Charlie Brown sewer extension; Pine Swamp Wastewater Treatment Plant; clean water wells on the Bakers Creek reservoirs), and planning for South Toe Campground and Cane River Park FEMA-funded projects connected to Hurricane Helene damage. The message also notes a new Public Safety and 911 Center under construction (expected 2026) and renovation of the old bank building on Burnsville Town Square.

- Library: the county added the Yancey County Public Library as a county department in the proposed budget, allocating $308,009 with $97,323 in projected state funding offset.

- Solid waste: disposal costs are projected at $1,391,332 for the fiscal year.

The budget message references other recurring sources of county revenue, including sales tax and state and federal grants, and recommends that the board continue efforts to support property tax collection.

The meeting agenda listed a public hearing and "consideration and adoption" of the FY 2025-2026 budget. The text provided contains the County Manager's written budget message but does not include a recorded public-comment transcript or a recorded vote on the budget in the material supplied. The agenda also included multiple consent items, department updates, and board appointments that the manager's message and attachments describe but the supplied text does not show a formal vote outcome for.

The budget message is signed by Lynn Austin, Yancey County Manager, and was submitted June 9, 2025.