County Manager Amy Cannon presented the Fiscal Year 2021 recommended annual budget to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners today. Under the plan, property taxes would remain unchanged.
Cannon recommended a “no-growth or flat budget” that exceeds the current budget by $1.3 million, which equates to 0.4%. The balanced recommended budget includes approximately $468 million in total expenditures across all funds, with a General Fund total of $325 million.
The recommended budget maintains the property tax rate at 79.9 cents per $100 valuation. Each one cent on the tax rate is projected to generate $2.3 million in real, personal and motor vehicle taxes. The budget appropriates $9.7 million in fund balance, which remains within the board’s policy of 3% of recurring expenditures.
Cannon outlined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on current year revenues and projected losses for FY2021. Prior to the Stay-At-Home order, property, motor vehicle and sales tax revenues were projected to significantly outperform the original budget estimates by $5.3 million. However, due to the economic downturn, the County projects a budget deficit of $2.2 million in collections.
Projected declines in sales, motor vehicles and property tax revenues for FY2021 total $9.2 million. The most dramatic impact is on sales tax revenues, which will see an estimated $6.2 million shortfall in FY2021 from what was projected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Motor vehicles tax collections will see a $1.8 million shortfall and property taxes will generate $1.2 million less than earlier expected.
In the Crown Complex enterprise fund, revenues have been impacted by COVID-19. Event revenue, prepared food and beverage and occupancy taxes support the operations, debt service and capital expenses for the complex. The budget projects a 12% drop in food and beverage tax collections and a 20% decrease in occupancy tax collections for a combined shortfall of $1.1 million for FY2021.
The recommended budget includes a complete realignment of fees for Planning and Inspections. Fees in the Planning and Inspections Department have not changed in 10 years and have not kept pace with the cost of providing services. The proposed fees were developed by analyzing fees charged by comparable counties and the City of Fayetteville. The proposed fees remain lower than fees charge by contiguous counties. Cannon recommended delaying the implementation of the fees until Jan. 1, 2021, due to the economic impact of COVID-19 on the development community.
Expenditure Highlights
- Education Funding – The Board of Education requested $84.7 million, an increase of $4.2 million. The recommended appropriation is $80.7 million, which represents 43.47% of the projected ad valorem and motor vehicle tax collections. This appropriation was computed to provide funding at the FY2020 percentage of projected collections, which continues the methodology used under previous school funding agreements. Fayetteville Technical Community College is recommended to receive $12,283,629 for current expense funding, which is an increase of $99,503.
- Due to revenue losses, a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for County employees is not included, but a mid-year COLA will be considered after more data is available on the revenue impact of COVID-19.
- To address challenges with employee recruitment and retention, the recommended budget includes $772,074 for market adjustments for pay in high-turnover classifications. This is the second year of a three-phased approach to address salary competitiveness.
- The budget funds two positions (a Health Department social worker and a Deputy Register of Deeds); 18 vehicles and replacement equipment at the Detention Center.
- Funding for community agencies remains at current year levels with no cuts.
- Based on a fleet management review, the budget includes $49,380 for a fleet management consultant to assist with addressing the recommendations in the study; $4,500 to implement a tool allowance for technicians; $5,400 to develop a technician training program and $3 million in fund balance from the Capital Investment Fund for future vehicle replacement after formal fleet management and replacement policies are developed.
- A state-mandated $1.2 million increase to the county’s employer contribution to the Local Government Employees’ Retirement System is included in the budget.
- The Solid Waste enterprise fund budget includes closing the Cliffdale Convenience Center, which sits in an annexed portion of the City of Fayetteville, on Oct. 1 for a cost savings of $100,000. All other convenience sites were established for residents in the unincorporated areas where municipal trash service is not provided. An additional $1.9 million in equipment replacement is also included in the recommended budget.
Other initiatives for the fiscal year include merging the public library information technology section with County IT; completing migration to permitting software in Planning and Inspections, exploring relocating Child Support from the Bradford Avenue facility and centralizing the County’s Criminal Justice Services such as Pre-trial Services, specialty courts and Juvenile Crime Prevention Council to create efficiency in service delivery.
The budget is posted on the County’s website at co.cumberland.nc.us under the Budget Division.
The board will hold budget work sessions on June 3 and June 9 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 118 of the Courthouse, located at 117 Dick St.
The public hearing on the proposed budget is June 8 at 7 p.m. in Room 118 of the Courthouse. Citizens who would like to comment on the proposed budget may sign up to speak prior to the start of the meeting or by contacting the Clerk to the Board at 910-678-7771. The meeting to hold the public hearing will be conducted in compliance with the requirements of any Executive Order issued by Gov. Cooper which may be in place at that time.
The meetings will be available to the public live via the Cumberland County website at co.cumberland.nc.us, Youtube page (youtube.com/user/CumberlandCountyNC/videos), and on the Fayetteville Cumberland Education Channel (FCE-TV) Spectrum Cable Channel 5.