May 29, 2008 issue
Commissioners Adjust County Budget
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Four Watauga County Commissioners—Chair Jim Deal was detained out of town—met in their final budget work session on Tuesday to consider additional requests from county agencies and from speakers at last week’s public hearing on the budget.
The Watauga County Board of Education thanked the board for its allocation for the 2008-09 fiscal year. Superintendent Bobbie Short said, “Every year for the past five years we have come back to the commissioners and asked for more money for current expense. This year, we didn’t need to do that. We are not here to ask for a thing, just to say thank you.” The budget reflects a 7.2 percent increase in the school’s current operating expenses, a total of $11,342,370. That figure does not include debt service or the $200,000 set-aside for the 10-year school maintenance plan. Total funding in the next fiscal year for Watauga County Schools is almost $18 million.
Four representatives from the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office placed a number of requests in front of the board, including promotions, money for overtime payments to make up for a 67 percent state cut and additional vehicles. After deliberation, the board agreed to one promotion, asked Assistant County Manager Deron Geouque to investigate another promotion request, and said no to the overtime pay and vehicle requests.
The commissioners decided to set aside $225,000 for playground upgrades at Mabel, Green Valley and Valle Crucis schools. The schools will be invited to submit proposals for an approximately $75,000 playground equipment installation. The playground upgrades mean that renovation of the tennis courts at the Watauga County Parks and Recreation Complex will be put off for another year.
The board also approved the hiring of a security person for the skatepark at the Parks and Recreation Complex at an estimated cost of $39,000 and to use the $25,000 set-aside for phase II of the skatepark in the county capital improvement plan to offset some of the cost of the security person. The county staff will investigate hiring a full-time retired law enforcement officer versus contracting with a security service.
At the public hearing, representatives from Smoky Mountain Center, the local management entity that administers mental health services, and from AppalCART requested that the commissioners reconsider their recommendations and fully fund their requests. At the work session, the board agreed to do so, giving Smoky Mountain $8,507 more for a total of $236,194 and AppalCART an additional $6,500 for a total allocation of $78,325.
In further board action, the Children’s Playhouse picked up an additional $1,500 and the Children’s Council gained $5,000.
Additional requests for money that the commissioners did not grant were for the new Family Resource Center, the Hunger and Health Coalition and the Hospitality House and WeCan.
Before considering funding the Family Resource Center, the commissioners want to discuss the buyout of a lease W.A.M.Y. holds at the Western Watauga Community Center. The county, needing the space at the center, has approached W.A.M.Y. about negotiating a buyout, but the agency has not responded. W.A.M.Y. is a principal in the new Family Resource Center.
The Hunger and Health Coalition requested that the board continue funding $7,500 in maintenance costs at the building off Bamboo Road although the agreement for funding has expired. The original agreement was that the Hunger Coalition’s income from leases at the facility would fund maintenance, and the board decided to let that agreement stand.
Finally, the board declined the Hospitality House and WeCan request in light of its donation of land for a new shelter.
The board also decided to stand by its decision to reallocate fire tax money under a new formula that will provide more help to districts with lower tax bases. County Manager Rocky Nelson pointed out that the old formula had never been adjusted, and that the total fire district supplement was increasing by $12,475 in the 2008-09 fiscal year.
However, because of the formula adjustment, representatives from the Boone Rural Fire District spoke at the public hearing in protest of the district’s reduced funding. Boone Rural has, however, asked the commissioners to approve a hike in the district’s fire tax rate from 2 cents to 4 cents, a change that will bring in revenue of $280,000. Blowing Rock has asked for an increase from 3 cents to 5 cents.
The commissioners signaled their intention to approve the requests for the increased fire district tax and pointed out that after the change, all fire districts will be taxed at 5 cents except for Meat Camp at 3 cents and Boone at 4 cents.
Commissioner Billy Ralph Winkler commented, “We asked the fire districts to come up with a recommendation [for adjusting the supplement formula], but they came back and said they couldn’t. Now they are acting like this is unexpected. We’ve worked on this a long time after identifying the fact that we’re not doing anything with the supplements to help departments that need help the most. We don’t need to raise ad valorem taxes in addition to fire taxes, but there will be folks who won’t understand.”
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