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Resident urges county to prioritize worker raises over new housing nonprofit funding
Summary
At public comment, resident Katie Morgan criticized the board’s October allocation of $400,000 to launch a county-affiliated affordable-housing nonprofit and urged the commissioners to instead use funds to increase county workers’ pay to address recruitment and retention problems.
During the public comment period at the March 2 meeting, Katie Morgan urged the board to prioritize immediate workforce pay increases for county employees rather than funding a newly created affordable-housing nonprofit.
"The $400,000 committed to start the Dare Housing Foundation nonprofit could have gone straight to helping county workers facing housing costs," Morgan said, arguing that an $8,000 annual raise for sanitation workers would deliver faster, direct benefits and help retention. She criticized the startup nonprofit as lacking construction plans, clear performance metrics and cited $12 million she said was set aside for affordable housing in county accounts.
Morgan pressed for fiscal restraint and suggested the county use existing funds to increase wages and stabilize the workforce before creating new programs. Commissioners and staff did not dispute Morgan’s description of her concerns but noted that the October funding decision already occurred and that separate processes govern budget allocations and program starts.
What happens next: Morgan’s comments were entered into the record. The board and staff expressed willingness to consider pay and staffing issues (the county manager and commissioners later discussed personnel and budget matters in the meeting); any change to allocations, raises or hiring would require future budget deliberations and formal motions.
