Randolph County adopts $207.2 million budget, adds 1 percentage point to employee COLA after split vote

Chairman Eddie Fry called the Randolph County Board of Commissioners to order and said the purpose of the meeting was to finalize close-out items and adopt the fiscal 2026–27 budget. "You've heard from the beginning that money's tight," Fry said as the board moved into detailed budget amendments and a capital-improvement review.

County staff presented several budget ordinance amendments and year-end adjustments, including a $200,000 addition to the school district fund, a $400,000 adjustment to the fire district fund, recognition of $66,000.720 in white-goods revenue, a $6,003.75 supplemental grant for a Deep River Trail coordinator, and a placeholder $1,000,000 entry to record lease/subscription liabilities for financial-reporting purposes. The manager emphasized that the $1,000,000 figure is only for reporting and not a cash-flow expense.

The board approved the budget amendments and capital-project closeouts by voice vote. Staff then reviewed the capital improvement plan and recommended transferring roughly $9.9 million into a capital reserve to fund projects such as IT and 911 center work. Commissioners discussed the county’s fund-balance policy and recent disaster lessons before approving the plan.

Separately, the board approved several fire-district tax-rate requests after hearing presentations from local fire departments. The Coleridge Fire District’s levy will rise from 10¢ to 12¢; Fair Grove’s request for a 3¢ increase (from 10.2¢ to 13.2¢ as stated in the presentation) was approved; Franklinville’s rate was set at 0.162; and Liberty Northeast’s rate was set at 0.17. The board then approved the remainder of the county’s fire-district rates at their existing levels.

Commissioners also approved two supplemental school taxes: the long-standing Archdale-Trinity supplemental tax was retained at 8.03¢, and Ashborough City Schools’ rate was approved at 11.53¢. The board adopted updated fee schedules to align county fees with regional building-code and development work.

The meeting addressed nonprofit budget inclusions and required recusals. Chairman Fry recused himself from the Communities and Schools vote because he serves on that board; the board approved a $70,000 appropriation to Communities and Schools. After the appropriate recusals, the board approved Trillium funding as presented (the transcript records the requested amount as $844,000).

The most contested item was a late proposal to raise the employee cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). County staff said the manager’s budget proposed a 2% COLA but flagged potential near-term revenue opportunities—stronger-than-expected interest income and possible sales tax increases tied to local developments—that could allow an increase. A motion to add one percentage point and raise the COLA to 3% was made and seconded.

Supporters said the county must remain competitive to retain staff. One commissioner noted, "we need to remain competitive with our employees." Opponents pushed back on timing and fiscal risk: one commissioner objected that adding roughly $762,100 near adoption was a last-minute change that could set the stage for future tax pressures, saying the move "doesn't sit right with me" because the budget had been under discussion for weeks.

The board voted 3–2 to add the additional 1 percentage point, moving the COLA to 3% for all county employees. After that change, the board adopted the fiscal-year 2026–27 budget at a 50¢ tax rate, approving a total budget figure recorded in the transcript as $207,200,144 by voice vote, 5–0.

The board concluded with routine business and adjourned. The adopted budget and the COLA increase take effect for the coming fiscal year; commissioners flagged ongoing revenue and revaluation risks that could affect the county’s revenue-neutral calculations next year.