Wilkes County budget work session advances COLA plan, frees school capital funds and funds EMS remount

The Wilkes County Board of Commissioners met May 19 for a budget work session during which County Manager John Yates presented proposed revenue additions and expenditure priorities the board will consider at a public hearing May 20.

Yates outlined proposed additional revenues including a $200,000 increase in interest income, a $114,000 SRO (school resource officer) grant, and a projected $1,300,000 increase in EMS billing revenue. He said the recommended additional expenditures include funding for four SRO positions without equipment ($285,000), a multi-tiered cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) proposal, restoring six frozen positions after six months ($130,652), an EMS ambulance remount ($154,000), $93,939 for Wilkes Community College and $130,072 for Wilkes County Schools K–12.

“This is what we are recommending,” County Manager John Yates said, describing the COLA proposal as “a 10% COLA for anyone making $30,000 and below, which is 3 positions; a 5% COLA for the ones making $40,000 and below, which is 124 positions; and a 3% COLA for all remaining, which is 400 positions.”

Commissioner Hardin Kennedy praised staff work on the budget, saying the proposals reflect significant effort and that “the County employees are what makes or breaks us.” Chair Shirley Randleman clarified that the SRO request represented four positions without equipment; Yates confirmed that description.

On school funding, Yates said $600,000 previously given to Wilkes County Schools for paving was tied to a construction project that did not occur; the county recommends freeing those funds so the school system may use them for capital improvements at its discretion. Commissioner Kennedy and Commissioner Evan Handy noted that low-wealth funding from the state will keep base funding largely flat for the coming year; Kennedy said the district expects total funding to be roughly $4,035,000 next year, within about $30,000 of the current year.

On EMS, the work session materials list a projected $1,300,000 increase in EMS billing revenue and identify $154,000 for an ambulance remount under proposed expenditures.

The board did not take a final vote on the overall budget during the session. Chair Randleman announced a public hearing on the budget for May 20, 2025, at 5:00 P.M., where members of the public and stakeholders can sign up to comment. Yates and Finance staff said they will bring final recommended figures back for formal action after the public hearing.

Clarifying details captured in the meeting: the $600,000 held for paving was originally provided more than a year ago to the school system; the SRO allocation in the recommended expenditures covers positions only and does not include equipment; the COLA proposal is structured in three tiers and affects roughly 527 positions in the county payroll headcount as described by Yates.