Here's how the proposed Cumberland County budget could affect you
Cumberland County Manager Amy Cannon presented her proposed budget for the 2022-23 fiscal to the county Board of Commissioners on May 26.
Cannon made the presentation during a special meeting at the Cumberland County courthouse. She told the commissioners that the $552.93 million budget is intended to continue the county’s focus on resilience, recovery and restructuring, according to a statement released by county officials.
The budget calls for $362 million in general fund expenses, which is an increase of $22 million, or 6.5% over the current year’s budget.
The commissioners can decide to change the budget before adopting it later this month. The next fiscal year starts July 1. A public hearing on the recommended budget is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. in Room 118 of the courthouse.
Here are the answers to five important questions about the proposed budget.
How much tax will I pay?
Cannon’s recommended budget keeps the county tax rate at 79.9 cents per $100 in property valuation.
That means residents pay $799 in annual property taxes for every $100,000 in property, so someone with a $200,000 house would pay nearly $1,600.
The county brings in about $2.43 million for each penny of the tax rate, Cannon said in a memo to commissioners that is included in the budget document. Property taxes are expected to bring in about $170.7 million, or about 55% of the county’s revenue, according to the document.
How is the money being spent?
The largest percentage of the budget goes to what the document calls human service. It says that 31 cents of every dollar is spent on child support, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department and veterans services.
The county spends 28 cents of every dollar on education, which includes Cumberland County Schools and Fayetteville Technical Community College.
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Public safety, which includes the Sheriff’s Office, school resource officers, animal services, emergency services and the jail, gets 19 cents of every dollar.
The county spends 17 cents of every dollar on general government — administration, facilities, financial services, human resources, innovation and technology, the Register of Deeds and Tax Administration.
The rest of the budget goes to cultural and recreational services and economic and physical development.
What are the top priorities in the budget?
The budget includes funding for a number of issues that county commissioners have identified as priorities, according to Cannon. They include the Crown Event Center, which is expected to replace the Crown Theatre and Crown Arena, and providing water to the Gray’s Creek area, where hundreds of homes have contaminated wells.
Other priorities included in the budget are countywide water, dealing with homelessness, government communication, economic development and an inventory of county facilities. Cannon also talked about completing the county’s Emergency Services Center, discussing a new high school with school and Fort Bragg officials, funding for schools, mental health, public health and recruiting and retaining county employees.
Will county employees get a raise?
The budget calls for employees to receive a 4% cost-of-living adjustment to their salaries. It also includes additional funding to increase the pay of sheriff’s deputies and detention officers.
The budget contains $95,000 for a study looking at the pay ranges of county employees and other salary issues. It also has funding for a pilot project that would move social workers in the Department of Social Services to permanent remote duties.
What will have the greatest impact?
The projects listed above are expected to help residents in various ways, but if two pilot programs related to health issues in the county are successful, they might have a strong impact for some residents.
The Health and Social Services departments are collaborating in the three-year project that is intended to improve the health of county residents. The budget provides funding for 16 full-time workers who will serve in teams.
The teams will help coordinate the care residents receive and connect them to resources for healthcare, housing, education, employment and legal issues.
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A separate pilot program will receive $50,000 from the budget to provide transportation to the Health Department for some residents. The program, which will use Uber Health or Lyft Business for Healthcare, is meant to help residents who don’t have transportation to the department.
The department has an average no-show rate of 23% for patient appointments, according to the budget document. Health Department staff members will manage the program.
Local news editor Steve DeVane can be reached at sdevane@fayobserver.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Five questions about the proposed Cumberland County budget
