Madison County proposes more than 3% budget increase; to hold public hearing end of month

MARSHALL - In the draft budget introduced May 31, Madison County's proposed budget exceeds its 2022-23 budget by more than $1 million.

The Madison County Board of Commissioners met with County Manager Rod Honeycutt and Kary Ledford for the group's final budget planning work session May 30, during which Honeycutt and Ledford presented the proposed budget to the board.

The proposed budget appropriates $32.1 million to the county's General Fund, up from 2022-23's $30.8 million in appropriations.

According to Honeycutt, the 3.4% increase from the 2022-23 budget to the proposed 2023-24 budget is due to personnel costs relating to the planning and development team, as well as a cost of living increase.

"This is the culmination of seven work sessions and 24 individual hours. As a group we're probably approaching somewhere near 150 hours that we've spent with this budget," Honeycutt said in the presentation. "It's a fiscally responsible, yet conservative budget that took into account employee recruiting retention services, Consumer Price Index and how they impact our day-to-day operations ... and making sure that we have procurement procedures in place and maintaining that our fleet and our IT departments are of a state of the art and most up to date reflection."

According to the budget, roughly 65% of the county revenue will come from property taxes and sales taxes.

The proposed budget appropriates the following amounts in its General Fund :

• General Government $ 4.2 million.

• Public Safety - $8.5 million.

• Transportation - $683,500.

• Health and Human Services - $4.3 million.

• Community Services - $849,300.

• Social Services - $4.8 million.

• Economic and Physical Development -$1.5 million.

• Education - $4.8 million.

• Culture and Recreation - $977,700.

• Contingency - $100,000.

• Debt Service - $1.3 million.

• Transfer to Revaluation Fund - $85,000.

The biggest increase was in the Parks and Recreation Department, in which expenditures increased 44%, from $783,000 to $978,000, after the county allocated $120,000 for renovations to the county baseball fields.

More: Madison County allocates $120,000 for upgrades to baseball fields after parents' concerns

Board discussion

In recent weeks, the county's animal services department made news after rampant rumors circulated suggesting the county's animal services shelter would be closing.

Honeycutt acknowledged the department was in the midst of high turnover, as the county's new unnamed animal services director started May 26 after longtime Director Angela Davis stepped down, citing "chronic understaffing" at the department since 2020.

More: Madison shelter closing? Madison County addresses rumors of animal shelter's closure amid staff resignations

Additionally, Honeycutt said the county proposed a budget increase and would expand the department personnel's qualifications and hours of operations.

But on May 30, the county manager backpedaled and said the 2022-23 expenditures for the department totaled more than $403,000, while the 2023-24 budget proposes slightly more than $368,000, an 8% decrease in appropriations.

"That was of the status quo options that were provided," Honeycutt said. "Right now, I think that this one was the best one to put in place as we continue to explore animal shelter operations going forward."

According to Honeycutt, the proposed budget will fund three full-time positions, two part-time positions and an animal control officer.

"It's based off of a substitute of having one animal control officer full time and part time on the weekends, and the Sheriff's Office picking up what they picked up on the night shift, and having access to the animal control officer calling them in," Honeycutt said. "The contact hours are 36, with four on call as needed through animal control. With that help, we were able to remove one of the part-time positions that were 20 hours.

"That's where the 8% comes from. But still, it's an 8% increase with more hours and more capability than we've ever had down at the shelter."

Honeycutt said the animal services shelter's additional day of operations, Saturdays, would be of no cost to the county, as the county entered into a six-month agreement with a nonprofit organization that has agreed to offer 32 hours a week of its time to the shelter.

According to Honeycutt, the county is also in the process of hiring a planning and zoning administrator. The position has been vacant since November 2022.

Additionally, the budget proposes a 13% increase to the county management/finance/human resources department, as the county is actively seeking a grants coordinator, Honeycutt said.

The proposed budget includes a 10% increase in education allocations, from $4.3 million to $4.7 million.

The county manager said this increase was predominantly due to Superintendent Will Hoffman's request to implement a $15 minimum wage for a number of employees.

Commissioner Jeremy Hensley said he was curious what other factors contributed to the increase. Honeycutt said he planned to meet with Madison County Schools' finance officer Michael Wallin the week of June 5-9.

"In full transparency there has been communication that Dr. Hoffman wants to see the budget because he has concerns," Honeycutt said. "We have reason to believe he's going to ask for more between now and the end of the budget cycle. I don't know that for sure, but his indication in the email was, 'When's the budget? I need to review it.' So there will be more discussion once I meet with the finance officer."

While solid waste is not budgeted for General Fund, it is budgeted for revenue and expenditures. The proposed budget appropriates nearly $2.8 million for the solid waste department.

Board Vice Chair Michael Garrison said he was concerned that some of the department's longest tenured employees were not receiving adequate compensation.

"I'm still concerned that we have our full-time employees who have been here many years, and our part-time employees who might have been hired yesterday, making the same pay," Garrison said. "The people who are full time have the benefit of benefits. My position on that is, benefits don't buy bread. We have employees who are making $11 or $12 an hour that are full time that have been with the county for eight or 10 years.

"One check is to pay their cost of public housing that's already subsidized, and the other check for $650 is to get their hair cut, buy shoes, groceries, pay all the bills, their gas, their cellphone. They're living off $650 a month, and they're full-time employees that have been here eight or 10 years. That's unacceptable, especially compared to part-time employees, who are making the same pay."

Board Chair Matt Wechtel agreed with the vice chair and said he'd like to see attention be paid to the county's lowest-wage employees as well.

"I do think Vice Chair Garrison makes a very valid point," Wechtel said. "I really would like to see attention be paid more to the folks at the bottom of the pay scale than the folks at the top, as they have been for the past couple years.

"I do understand, the benefits, to me, are a big thing. I also do agree that obviously benefits are more important to certain people than they are to others. Benefits are a huge expense. But I think the longevity of those people that have been there for a long time do need to be taken into consideration.

According to Wechtel, a salary study of the county's employees will begin July 1.

Honeycutt said he aimed to bring 38 county employees up to a minimum wage of $12 per hour.

The Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the budget June 27 at 6 p.m. at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Office-Madison County Center, located at 258 Carolina Lane in Marshall.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison County proposes 3% budget increase; to hold public hearing