052714May 27, 2014
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met at 6:00 p.m. for a special budget session
in the 1909 Randolph County Historic Courthouse Meeting Room, 145 Worth Street, Asheboro,
NC. Commissioners Holmes, Frye, Haywood and Lanier were present. Commissioner Kemp was
absent. The purpose of this meeting was to hear a formal presentation of the Proposed FY 2014-
2015 County Budget and budget requests from the County and City Schools, Randolph
Community College and Sandhills Center Mental Health.
Will Massie, Assistant County Manager/Finance Officer, presented the Proposed FY 2014-
2015 Budget, totaling $116,916,277, which is an increase of $3,086,402 over the 2013-2014
adopted budget. The Proposed General Fund Budget is presented with a two -cent property tax
rate increase for Emergency Service modernization, added to the revenue neutral rate of 63.61
(total 65.61 cents per $100 valuation). Mr. Massie said that this budget is full of moving parts
and was developed in three stages. Stage 1 contains some adjustments. The property reappraisal
resulted in lower real estate valuations in the tax base. $10.060 billion (new tax base), which
requires a new rate of 63.61 cents to be revenue neutral. Property tax growth was flat until 2013-
2014. The 2013-2014 budget was set at $10.2 billion, but the actual budget will probably end up
at about $10.4 billion, which reduced appropriated fund balance. This proposed budget restores
the full transfer of Article 46 sales taxes to the RCC Community College Capital Project, which
was reduced in 2013-14 to repay the County for a construction advance (CEIC project).
The 2nd stage of the proposed budget concerns reallocation. Mr. Massie said that there has
been a backlog of needs delayed over the past few years: additional personnel, essential
technology, vehicle replacement, equipment replacement and facility maintenance, and he added
that there is no dedicated revenue source for these items. In 2014-2015, there will be about
$260,000 available due to a reduction in debt service. He explained the second stage of the
budget preparation: "reallocation," which is summarized below:
STAGE 2REALLOCATION
Information Technology needs
Software upgrades
$50,000
Server replacement
$40,000
Network Upgrades
$58,000
Other upgrades
$14,000
Public Buildings needs
Telephone System replacement $70,000
Elections needs
Tabulator replacement $24,530
$256,530
Mr. Massie explained his rationale for shifting some funding ($15,029, shown below) to
increase some board member fees and salaries to get them more in line with other counties. He
said that the average compensation for Commissioners in other similar counties is $16,318/year.
Randolph's is only $7,800. Planning Board members have received only $35 per meeting since
1987. Mr. Massie included funding to increase that rate to $50 per meeting.
Reduction in Contracted Services
FSA Administration ($15,029)
Reallocation to
Board of County Commissioners
Year 1 of 3 $13,779
Planning Board
$35 to $50 per mtg. $1,250
$15,029
Personnel Changes:
• Emergency Services (12 positions)
• Social Services (6 positions)
• Administration (2 positions)
• Child Support En£ (1 position)
• Public Buildings 1 PT position
• Adult DRC 1 PT position
• Veterans Office 1 Reclassification
Transfer of Positions:
Eliminated positions
• Building Inspections (Sr. Code En£ Officer) ($55,180)
• Public Buildings (Admin. Asst.) ($41,518)
• Emergency Services (Office Asst. II) ($18,804)
($115,502)
Added Positions
• Child Support Enforcement (Agent)
$14,161
• Administration (Grant Writer)
$63,791
• Adult DRC (PT Case Mgr)
$14,896
• Public Buildings (PT Sign Tech)
$14,185
$107,033
Upgraded Position
• Veterans Services (Administration Asst.)
$2,455
New Position Added (Funded through employee contributions for health plan coverage)
• Wellness Coordinator
STAGE 3 -NEW SERVICES (accomplished with a 2 -cent increase above the revenue neutral
rate)
Emergency Services Modernization (Year One 2014-15)
0 Ambulance Bases (Uwharrie, then Liberty)
Personnel for Uwharrie base (January 1, 2015)
Replacement Vehicles
Design costs for new 911 Center
Social Services Positions
• Child Protective Services (2)
• Income Maintenance Caseworkers (2)
• Administrative Support (2) (unfunded)
• Grants $70,642 County $197,945
SUMMARY OF 2014-2015 PROPOSED BUDGET
Adopted 13-14 Budget $113,829,875
Restore Transfer to RCC Capital Project $1,700,000
Emergency Services Modernization $1,965,724
All other adjustments ($579,322)
Proposed 2014-15 Budget: $116,916,277
PROPERTY TAX LEVY SUMMARY
$10.06 billion valuation in FY 2014-15 Budget
• Collection rate 97.75%
• Proposed tax rate $0.6561 per $100 valuation
• Additional 2 cents for ES modernization
• One cent on tax rate equals $980,928
Revenue neutral rate: $ 0.6361
ES modernization: .0200
$ 0.6561
Not Funded in Proposed Budget due to lack of fundingsource:
ource:
• No adjustment to employee pay plan
• Requested Sheriff's Office replacement computers, equipment and jail upgrades
• Requested increase in School current expense and capital
• Some outside agencies requests (Randolph Family Healthcare at MERCE ($215,000
operating [forgive line of credit]), YMCA ($50,000 capital funding for 5 years)
• Communities in Schools (requested increase of $5,000)
• Randolph Vocational Industries (requested increase of $5,000)
• Randolph County Senior Adults Assn. (requested increase of $12,129)
Mr. Massie reiterated his recommendation from the Board's March board retreat to
determine and dedicate a specific revenue stream to be used for capital replacement and future
capital improvement projects.
Mr. Massie said that six fire departments are requesting an increase in fire tax rates: Bennett,
Eastside, Randleman -Sophia, Southwest, Staley and Westside.
Asheboro City Schools Presentation
Dr. Diane Frost, Asheboro City Schools (ACS) Superintendent, reported that the Asheboro
City Schools is striving to get to a 90% graduation rate. In 2010, the rate was 76%. In 2013, the
rate increased to 86.3%, an all-time record. Dr. Frost spoke about three priorities for their 2014-
15 budget. Priority 41: Raises for teachers, which is included in the governor's proposed budget,
and if approved, would result in a significant local impact. Priority 42: Stop erosion in state per
pupil funding. Priority 43: Reiterate their capital outlay needs.
Asheboro City Schools has requested $5,090,951 in current expense funding; $4,503,949 is in
the manager's proposed budget. A total of $880,200 has been requested in capital funding;
$581,085 has been included in the manager's proposed budget, along with $250,000 in
construction capital, same as the previous year.
Dr. Frost urged the Board to approve an increase in current expense by approximately
$600,000 to absorb local costs of state teacher and staff pay increases and to increase the local
salary supplement rate by 1%. She also urged the board to advocate for increased funding from
the state to restore lost funding. Dr. Frost asked the board to approve the revenue neutral rate of
14.37 cents for the Asheboro City Schools Supplemental Tax District.
Dr. Frost outlined five priority capital outlay needs:
Air condition new gym at AHS
Replace several aging HVAC units
Roofing projects
Window replacements
Purchase new yellow bus
A total of $880,200 in current capital is requested ($581,085 is in manager's proposed budget)
along with the continuance of $250,000 in construction capital to address these five current
capital needs.
Dr. Frost thanked the Board for its support for the last 14 years that she has served as the
superintendent. The Board thanked Dr. Frost for her leadership and support of Asheboro City
Schools, as she retires at the end of June.
Randolph County Schools Presentation
Dr. Stephen Gainey, Randolph County Schools (RCS) Superintendent, presented the
Randolph County Schools budget request. A total of $18,508,066 in current expense has been
requested; $17,160,068 has been proposed in the manager's budget. For capital funding, RCS is
requesting $2,951,696; $2,213,939 has been included in the manager's proposed budget.
Dr. Gainey reviewed the four highest priority current expense requests: 1) Continuation
costs - $400,000; 2) Randleman Middle School 5 t Grade Academy - $185,000; 3) Technology
Replacements and Upgrades - $250,000; and 4) Supplement Increase (.5%) - $500,000. The total
additional current expense request is for $1,335,000.
Dr. Gainey said that the nine-year facilities plan that was presented to the Commissioners in
January and then again in March has not changed. He explained the plan and said that increasing
their capital funding by $736,000 a year would take care of their needs for the next nine years.
Dr. Gainey said that the Archdale -Trinity Supplemental Tax Council is requesting that the
revenue neutral rate of 9.54 cents be approved.
Randolph Community College (RCC) Presentation
RCC President Dr. Robert Shackleford spoke in support of RCC, saying that for every $1 of
public investment, taxpayers reap a cumulative value of $6.80 over the course of students'
working lives. He said that the college has worked hard to reduce utility expenses. However,
there are some costs that cannot be controlled, such as insurance and retirement costs, which
continue to rise. Since 2008, several new programs have been initiated, and 20 career and college
promise pathways, as well as, 18 pre -majors have been added. All of this has been done with no
increase in county funding. In fact, county funding was reduced by $233,000 in FY 2010-11 due
to the referendum on top of a 3% decrease in funding due to across the board cuts in both capital
and operating expense.
Dr. Shackleford urged the board to consider their current expense request of $2,407,235. The
Manager's proposed budget includes an appropriation of $2,328,000, same as last year.
Sandhills Center Presentation
Victoria Whitt, Sandhills Center CEO, provided a program update and budget request. Ms.
Whitt said that the current Board is composed of 21 members from a nine -county membership.
For the 10th consecutive year, the Sandhills Center board has voted to not request any additional
funding from any of the nine counties. The request from Randolph is $844,000. Ms. Whitt
reminded the Commissioners that all of this funding stays in Randolph County and goes to
support two walk-in crisis centers (operated by Daymark Recovery) for indigent citizens: one
located in Asheboro and one in Archdale. Ms. Whitt provided statistics on the number of citizens
served in Randolph County and provided the last two quarterly reports, which includes
information on some new initiatives at Sandhills Center.
Ms. Whitt said that the Governor and the secretary of DHHS have presented a mental health
reform proposal to the General Assembly that proposes to continue to consolidate the nine local
management entities. If the proposal is approved, Sandhills would likely be combined with the
Alliance LME (Wake, Durham, Cumberland and Johnston Counties.) Of course, if this
legislation is adopted, the structure of Sandhills board would change.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:51 p.m.
J. Harold Holmes, Chairman Darrell L. Frye
Arnold Lanier Stan Haywood
Cheryl A. Ivey, Clerk to the Board