What is Craven County spending its money on the most? Will it be the same next year?
There are similarities and differences between city and county governments, but overall it's the county that is the most essential for residents.
Counties typically operate under provisions set out by state law. Essentially, counties are administrative units of the state.
If you ask Craven County Manager Jack Veit III to describe what the county does for residents, his answer is steadfast — to provide excellent quality of service for residents.
So, what are those services the county provides?
Counties have several services they must provide in accordance with federal or state laws such as law enforcement, jails, courts, social services, public schools, deed registration, and tax assessment among others, according to the UNC School of Government.
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Cities can provide similar services but are not required to do so by state or federal law in most cases.
Depending on several factors when it comes to the services provided, each department receives a certain amount of money each year to operate. So how is the county's budget divided up and who is getting the most?
A quarter of the county's budget goes to public schools
Currently in the fiscal year 2021-22, Craven County approved an operating budget of $121,196,303 for its General Fund. The year began on July 1, 2021, and ends on June 30, 2022.
Of the 40 services the county has in the General Fund for the operation of the county government, public schools account for a quarter of the $121 million budget.
Last year, Craven County Schools received $24,147,991 while Craven Community College received $4,601,425. Local funds provided to Craven County Schools support school building maintenance and operations, and supplements state support for
instructional programs.
Craven County Social Services is the second-highest allocated service with an approved budget of $19,591,102 last year. The department is responsible for services such as child welfare, adult services, public assistance, work programs, daycare, prevention services, and senior services.
The Craven County Sheriff's Office has the third-highest operating budget with a total of $15,854,873. School resource officers, the Craven County Jail, and Craven County Animal Control are listed separately on the budget ordinance but fall under the sheriff's office.
Will employees see another pay increase? Which departments need more?
The time to approve the fiscal year 2022-22 budget is around the corner as Veit explained discussions will be ramping up on Monday. Between now and the end of June, departments will get their answer on how much they have to work with next year.
One question that will also be answered is if the board will approve another cost of living increase for county employees.
In December, the board voted unanimously to approve a 5% raise as a cost of living increase after Commissioner George Liner initiated the discussion. In the current budget season, the county is expected to discuss another pay increase for the fiscal year 2022-23.
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Both Craven County Schools and Craven Community College are expected to make their request to the Craven County Board of Commissioners this week as to how much money they will need to operate next year.
With a few more odds and ends to tie up, Veit said his plan is to provide the commissioners with the staff's draft of the budget by May 16. At that time, the decision is in the hands of the board.
"We'll sit down and go through budget work sessions, go through the highlights, hit the areas where we are doing very well and areas we need to look at to make sure we are covering our bases," said Veit. "We'll talk about things that are of interest like COVID-19 issues through the health department, sheriff initiatives, things like that."
Because the budget is still being worked through and the board has not been presented with a draft, Veit was unable to comment at this time on any initiatives, increases, and areas of opportunity that were possibly coming.
He added there will be a public comment period scheduled for June before a vote takes place for next year's budget.
"We try to make the budget process as transparent as possible because at the end of the day, it's your budget, it's my budget, it's everybody's budget," Veit said.
The board has until June 30 to approve the fiscal year 2022-23 budget, but Veit said the normal practice is to have the budget approved several weeks before that deadline.
Reporter Trevor Dunnell can be reached by email at tdunnell@newbernsj.com. Please consider supporting local journalism by signing up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Schools, sheriffs have the highest Craven County operating budget
