By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó Facing a budget year with no new revenue and $20 million in “must-have” needs for a jail annex and emergency communications equipment, Rowan County commissioners are pinning their hopes on voters approving a quarter-cent sales tax increase.
Getting that sales tax increase passed in November emerged as the top priority during the final day of the commissioners’ annual retreat Thursday.
If voters reject the sales tax, County Manager Gary Page said, Rowan officials will have no choice but to raise property taxes by two cents in 2010.
At the Tadlock South Rowan Library on Thursday, commissioners wasted no time when compiling their priorities for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
Already facing a budget shortfall of $1 million and other cutbacks this year, Page gave a bleak outlook for the year ahead.
Page said the county will have to dip into its fund balance, or savings, to keep services at current levels. And, he said, commissioners may have to do that for the next two budget years.
“You’re going to be living out of your fund balance,” Page said. “Thank goodness we have a fund balance.”
The county has $20 million in unrestricted funds, but no one is interested in going on a spending spree.
Page promised to find savings wherever possible in the $120 million budget, likely keeping in place a hiring freeze on non-emergency positions, and extending the 5 percent cutback on departmental expenses. Unpaid days off and elimination of some jobs are also likely.
Some costs in the budget will grow and must be covered. Page estimated health insurance for county employees to increase by $500,000 or more.
And the county debt payments will increase slightly from $12.9 million this year to $13.2 million next year. The majority of that amount, $10.3 million, is school construction debt.
Page and commissioners agreed school funding for current expense will not increase for the coming year, but no cuts are anticipated.
At the final portion of the three-day retreat, commissioners were asked to assign a priority number to each item on a list of requests from various departments or sources.
Few projects got the No. 1 ranking, which meant the county would try to accomplish them in Fiscal Year 2010, which starts July 1.
The No. 1 projects:
– Pass the one-quarter cent sales tax to pay for a jail annex and communications equipment;
– Build a jail annex. While most of the board members favor a more permanent structure estimated to cost $8 million, several asked for more information on the lifespan of a cheaper alternative, a $4 million facility.
Also, commissioners backed away from putting a jail annex on Airport Road, concerned it could hurt the “curb appeal” of the airport for economic development opportunities.
Instead, county officials plan to look at the former Kizer school site on Cottage Street off South Main Street as a possible option for a jail and future jail expansion. The site is surrounded on three sides by Parkdale Mill property.
Questions remain on whether city zoning would permit the jail at that site and whether there is sufficient acreage there for a larger jail and sheriff’s office complex in the future.
A final decision on the type of facility and the location will come later, after the board receives additional information.
– Telecommunications. The county estimates it will cost $12.5 million to provide three new communications towers and buy more than 1,000 new digital 800 radios for the county fire service. The changes are mandated in part by the Federal Communications Commission and the fact the current analog radio system will be obsolete by 2013.
A few other projects got some support, including switching to electronic time sheets. County officials expect that would cost $120,000 but say the county would recoup the expense within three years.
Commissioners gave most departments’ requests a No. 2, meaning they support the project, but it can wait.
Projects getting a majority of No. 2 rankings included:
– Renovating the Social Services Building on West Innes Street to allow the Board of Elections to move in;
– A document management system for Social Services, at a cost of $700,000;
– A new west Rowan ambulance site, including a building, ambulances and 15 positions;
– Improvements at various county parks. Commissioners Mitchell, Hall and Raymond Coltrain ranked a farm life museum at Sloan Park a No. 2 priority, while Vice Chairman Jon Barber and Chairman Carl Ford ranked it No. 3 ó not on the funding radar. No costs were specified.
Other projects that garnered the No. 3 rating included expansion of the animal shelter and various hangar projects at the airport.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.