Wilkes County residents urge library and program funding as commissioners reallocate $1.2 million and approve $25,000 for college software

Chair Shirley Randleman opened a public hearing on the proposed 2025–26 Wilkes County budget at 5:00 P.M. Tuesday, May 20, 2025, and invited public comment on the county’s spending plan and priorities.

Speakers representing the Wilkes Soil & Water district, the Wilkes County Public Library and other community groups urged the board to preserve staff and program funding. Kayla McCoy, speaking for Wilkes Soil & Water, asked commissioners not to cut an Administrative Assistant position that carries an annual salary of $38,000 and supports management of a roughly $500,000 local program budget and “millions in federal, state, private, nonprofit, and grant funds.” Charlie Sink, a longtime Soil & Water volunteer, told the commissioners the district brought more than $1.4 million in cost-share and grant funds to Wilkes County in 2024 and said losing administrative support would strain grant management and service delivery.

Library board members and community supporters pressed for restoration of library operating funds. Arnold Lakey and Suzanne Manners said proposed reductions would force cuts to hours or staff and leave no room for cost-of-living adjustments. Lakey provided a numerical example: the library’s proposed 2025–26 budget of $848,818 represented a 4.3% increase, and a 5% reduction contemplated in the county proposal would reduce the library by $40,665; he said the net swing between the increase requested (4.36%, $35,524) and the proposed 5% reduction would total $76,189 (9.37%). Richard Harvin and other speakers described library services — workforce support, digital-access points and children’s programs — as a strong return on investment for residents.

Other public commenters raised transparency and public-safety concerns. Walter Vaughn criticized the budget document’s lack of line-item detail and called for a schedule of outstanding debt, pointing to $4.7 million listed under debt service as an example that needs explanation. Barry Bush urged fuller funding for volunteer fire departments, saying many trucks exceed recommended service lives and that volunteer departments rely heavily on fundraisers.

After public comment the board convened the regular meeting at 5:39 P.M. Finance Director Chris Huffman explained Budget Amendment No. 27, saying interest earned on funds borrowed from Chase Bank in 2022 to build a new EMS facility allowed the county to make an $886,321 debt payment. Combined with $313,679 in additional interest earnings, Huffman said the county could reallocate $1.2 million to the North Wilkesboro interlocal agreement with Provalus without drawing on fund balance.

Commissioner Hardin Kennedy moved to approve Budget Amendment No. 27, as described by Huffman, and Commissioner Casey Johnson seconded. The board voted unanimously to approve the amendment.

President Mike Rodgers and VP of Technology Michael Wingler presented Wilkes Community College’s request to participate in a state-recommended pilot of Element 451, a customer-relationship-management platform for recruitment and enrollment. Rodgers said the State subsidy covers part of the first two years but left a $26,000 shortfall for each of the first two years; the county’s current 2024–25 contingency fund had $25,000 available. Wingler said Element 451 offers analytics, outreach automation and an AI-enabled workflow the college expects to use to build earlier enrollment pipelines and strengthen connections with industry partners.

Commissioner Evan Handy moved to appropriate $25,000 from the Board of Commissioners’ contingency fund in the current 2024–25 budget to Wilkes Community College for the Element 451 pilot; Commissioner Hardin Kennedy seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Other procedural votes included unanimous approval to cancel the Wednesday, May 28, 2025 budget work session and to set a new budget work session for Monday, June 2, 2025 at 1:00 P.M. The board recognized the Wilkes County Litter Committee’s fourth-grade poster-contest winner and then entered a closed session under N.C. Gen. Stat. §143-318.11(a)(3),(4),(5) to discuss possible property acquisition, a business location/expansion and receive attorney-client advice; the board later returned to open session and reported no action taken in closed session.

Votes at a glance

- Approve Minutes (May 6, 2025): motion by Commissioner Hardin Kennedy; second Commissioner Evan Handy; outcome: approved unanimously (5–0).

- Budget Amendment No. 27 (reallocate $886,321 + $313,679 = $1,200,000 to North Wilkesboro Provalus interlocal agreement): motion by Commissioner Hardin Kennedy; second Commissioner Casey Johnson; outcome: approved unanimously (5–0).

- Cancel Budget Work Session (May 28, 2025): motion by Commissioner Casey Johnson; second Commissioner Evan Handy; outcome: approved unanimously (5–0).

- Set Budget Work Session (June 2, 2025 at 1:00 P.M.): motion by Commissioner Evan Handy; second Commissioner Hardin Kennedy; outcome: approved unanimously (5–0).

- Appropriate $25,000 from Board contingency to Wilkes Community College for Element 451 software (current 2024–25 contingency): motion by Commissioner Evan Handy; second Commissioner Hardin Kennedy; outcome: approved unanimously (5–0).

What this means

The board’s actions shifted funds already in county accounts to cover an interlocal economic-development commitment and authorized a one-time contingency appropriation to support a college recruitment pilot. Public commenters pressed the board to restore or protect operating funding for the public library and other county services; the board took no vote on library funding at the May 20 meeting and expressed intent to continue budget deliberations at the scheduled June 2 work session.