Minutes 05-14-2024 - Budget Public Hearing and Work Session

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11 counties are also recommending increases in their budgets. She said that there is not any fluff or extra in the budget. She said the increase is what the county needs to operate. She said she would like to not have to recommend an increase, but she is required by law to submit a balanced budget. She said they went to department budgets and reviewed what could be cut. She said it is a time when they cannot leave money on the table and department budgets are tight. She said she would not recommend moving sales tax projections. Commissioner McKee asked what caused the extreme drop in the sales tax revenue. Bonnie Hammersley said it is difficult to know but during the pandemic, there was a lot of money coming from the federal government to families and they were spending money. She said businesses also received money during that time. Commissioner McKee asked if the reduction is anticipated to continue in future fiscal years. Bonnie Hammersley said it is difficult to tell but the state of NC is projecting 2% and the hope is that it is a plateau, and it will start moving back up. Commissioner Richards asked for more information on removing the matching requirements for the 401 k. Bonnie Hammersley said law enforcement gets a 5% 401 k contribution per state law. She said that there was a desire in the 1990s to offer something for other employees. She said not all employees can afford to match, so they do not get the supplement. She said she is recommending that all employees get the employer contribution of$100. Chair Bedford said it would be an employer contribution regardless of whether it is deferred or not. Bonnie Hammersley said yes. She said most employees will continue to match because it is a benefit to them. She said the total cost is $75,000 to implement. Commissioner Richards said one of the things she hears a lot about from non-profit organizations is that there is no room for new non-profits to receive funding. She said she sees in the budget that seven new organizations requested funds totaling $144,000, and the County Manager recommended $22,000. Bonnie Hammersley said without a history, new requests cannot score the same number of points as a previously funded non-profit. She said that the rubric was changed this year and the most any non-profit could expect to receive is their base amount plus a maximum of$10,000 additional dollars. Commissioner Richards said if an organization is new, it will never have a history. Bonnie Hammersley said they will in future years if it gets funded. 3. Public Comments A motion was made by Vice-Chair Greene, seconded by Commissioner Hamilton, to open the public hearing on the budget and capital investment plan. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Gail Hughes said she is a former employee with Soil and Water and is a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Board currently. She said she is representing the five-member board in a request to the Commissioners. She said staff requested a temporary part-time position. She said that the Board would like to request a temporary part-time position consideration from the Board even though they have implemented a hiring freeze. She said the reason is that they had three senior technical staff members retire in the last 3.5 years. She said that new employees do not have all of the certifications required or needed to complete the agricultural certification projects. She said it takes years to have enough experience for the certifications. She said that they can use the part-time position for continued training and project oversight. She said the