Martin County commissioners weigh 2-cent tax increase and cuts as draft budget shows $1.9M gap

Martin County commissioners met in a special session May 13 in Williamston to review a draft fiscal year budget that County Manager David Bone said remained about $1.9 million out of balance after proposed cuts.

County Manager David Bone said the county “really needed to see a 2% growth in population to maintain funding for the current levels of service,” but Martin County has experienced population decline and little revenue growth, contributing to the shortfall.

The draft budget presented several pressure points: a projected $80,000 increase in retirement costs; a $100,000 merit raise pool (the current-year amount); and an estimated 5% increase in health insurance premiums. The Martin County School Board’s updated request was shown as $6,684,211, down from an original $6,951,190 but still roughly $194,032 higher than the prior year’s allocation, according to Finance Director Cindy Ange.

Bone and Ange listed specific school capital and equipment items that had been removed from the county funding request to narrow the gap, including playground shade sails ($7,500), window units ($38,000) and a field house request for Riverside High ($71,000).

Martin Community College’s local funding request was reduced after staff discussions from $1,226,806 to $1,169,355, representing an $80,301 increase over last year. Bone said some capital items, such as a staging building, were expected to be covered by bond proceeds rather than local operating funds.

Board members pressed staff for more detail on a number of items. Commissioner Smith requested a breakdown of nearly $6 million in NC Connect expenditures at the college. Commissioner Elmo “Butch” Lilley raised concerns about septic-permit processing delays and urged caution about increasing county contributions to the MTW Health Department until neighboring counties confirmed matching support.

Public-safety and operational requests detailed by Bone included a proposed $94,000 telephone system for data processing, no increase for jail appropriations (with Vice Chairman Dempsey Bond Jr. acknowledging sheriff’s cost-saving ankle bracelet monitoring), and a proposed $60,000 unloading zone at the landfill intended to let citizens self-unload and reduce staff labor. Board members expressed skepticism about the landfill project’s immediate need and agreed to defer it for a year.

Other changes in the draft budget included an increased base payment to the county’s five rescue squads (about $44,940 total increase) to help cover medical-supply replenishment, a continued $70,000 allocation for youth detention, and several human-services allocations: CADA at $35,000 (reduced from an original $52,000 request), Agape Dental at $25,000 (the clinic identified as the county’s only Medicaid-accepting dental provider), and a new $10,000 request for drug court services.

On employee pay, Commissioner Lilley said he preferred a 2% cost-of-living adjustment for all employees instead of continuing merit-only raises; the board expressed support for a COLA. Faced with the remaining deficit, Bone advised that the county could either draw further from fund balance, enact a tax increase, or find additional cuts. Chairman Tommy Bowen opposed a 4-cent tax increase. The board directed staff to prepare a draft that reflected approximately a 2-cent tax increase rather than a 4-cent increase.

The board scheduled another budget workshop for Monday, May 20, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. to refine the draft budget. The meeting adjourned at 8:33 p.m. after a motion from Vice Chairman Dempsey Bond Jr.