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Pender County manager highlights workforce alignment, proposes targeted admin hires and IT cloud migration
Summary
County staff outlined a workforce alignment phase aimed at fixing pay and classification mismatches and asked commissioners to weigh priority hires, facility custodial additions and a Tyler Cloud migration expected to lower long-run maintenance costs. Commissioners asked staff to prioritize required operational items before approving discretionary hires.
The Pender County Board of Commissioners convened a budget work session focused on preparing a revenue-neutral county budget and prioritizing operating requests, the county manager said. Staff emphasized a workforce alignment initiative that last year adjusted roughly 200 employees and this year will focus on reclassifications and step changes to retain long-serving staff and close recruitment gaps.
The county manager described a staged process for this budget cycle: departments submit enhancements by Jan. 30, the budget committee prioritizes requests, and staff aim to present a balanced recommended budget in time for the board's first June adoption meeting. "We budget conservatively in reval years," staff said, noting a typical 10–15% holdback to allow for appeals that reduce taxable values.
Pam from human resources summarized the pay study work: staff benchmarked against 26 comparator counties and are taking a position-by-position approach rather than a single, across-the-board adjustment. "We're trying to be competitive but not number one or number 26," Pam said, explaining that hard-to-fill positions may be placed relatively higher in the range while stable positions are kept competitive.
Under administration and finance, staff asked the board to consider several targeted hires: an additional assistant county manager to oversee administration and finance services, a communications specialist to support the county's public information work, two custodians and an additional technical support specialist for IT, a property manager for the Seven Oaks housing asset, and a grant/project specialist in finance to administer grants and assist departments. Facilities enhancements cited include an animal-shelter generator, HVAC work at the Penderly gym, and a $20,000 library annex improvement.
Marcel, the county's IT lead, described a proposed Tyler Cloud migration that staff say will modernize the county's financial and permitting platforms and reduce long-term maintenance costs. The migration's estimated capital price is roughly half a prior estimate and will affect finance, planning/permitting, tax, and utilities. "Moving Tyler to the cloud will be a modernization that helps across many departments," Marcel said.
Commissioners repeatedly asked for prioritization and cost detail before committing to recurring staff additions. "We should focus on anything that is required to operate new facilities," one commissioner said, urging staff to separate mission-critical personnel and equipment from discretionary requests.
Staff said they will return with a recommended budget that reflects that prioritization and more precise salary and vehicle-replacement numbers for commissioner review. The board routed staff to bring back refined revenue projections, a phased plan for required hires linked to new facilities, and clearer comparisons of in-house versus contracted costs for equipment and construction work.
