Fiscal facts: What you need to know about Burke County's proposed budget for 2023-24

The goals outlined by Burke County Manager Brian Epley in the county’s proposed 2023-24 budget are ambitious, but Epley contends it’s the perfect time to pursue them.

Epley presented the budget to the Board of Commissioners at its regular monthly meeting last week, giving a complete report of where the county stands financially — as well as what the future holds.

Thanks to its solid credit rating and a healthy capital reserve fund, Burke County is poised to enact some measures that should make it a better place to live, Epley said.

“The budget process is something that I think is unique,” said Epley. “It gives us an opportunity to link priorities with resource allocation in an effort to try to do more.”

And doing more is what it’s all about, Epley said.

“Our goal shouldn’t be to spend less,” Epley told the board. “Our goal should be to spend a responsible, reasonable amount that provides the most premier service to the citizens of Burke County. If our goal is to spend less, we should simply do less. But that isn’t what we’re created to do.”

A public hearing on the budget is planned for the board’s next meeting Tuesday, June 20 at 6 p.m. in the commissioners meeting room, 110 N. Green St., Morganton.

Here are some of the budget’s key points and what you need to know about them:

How much money is in the budget?

The 23-24 budget for Burke County is $99,843,632. The budget is drafted with a tax base of $10.6 billion.

Where does the money come from?

There are multiple sources of income for the county. The breakdown looks like this: Ad valorem taxes (property and vehicle tax levies): 54%; sales taxes: 10.1%; restricted intergovernmental (all money from national, state, and local government): 19%; permits and fees: 3.2%; sales and services: 4.8%; investment earnings: 0.3%; miscellaneous: 1.1%.

That ratio stacks up favorably with peer counties, Epley said.

“We want to be not overly leveraged on those revenue sources that may be volatile during periods of economic uncertainty,” said Epley.

What will the tax rate be?

Property revaluation took place in January and tax values went up 47% from the previous revaluation in 2019. Epley said the current tax rate of 69.5 cents per $100 would present too much of a tax burden for citizens.

Epley presented the board with three options, 52, 54, or 56 cents per $100. Only the highest rate would allow the board to accomplish its goals in the suggested timeframe. It’s up to the commissioners to decide. The board has until July 1 to adopt a budget.

What will the tax burden look like for 2023-24?

The average homeowner will see an increase in the tax burden. Based on a $150,000 home value, the additional tax levy per month looks like this: 52 cents: $8.67; 54 cents: $12.35; 56 cents: $16.03. Epley said most homeowners pay their property taxes via escrow accounts.

He also said the county’s current individual tax levy is the state’s 83rd highest, meaning only 17 counties pay less per capita than Burke.

Any other additional cost increases?

The budget includes an 8.3% rate hike for both water and sewer services and household waste services. Water and sewer fees would go from $6 to $6.50 per 1,000 gallons. Household waste service would go from $82 to $88 per year. 

Construction of the new East Burke Convenience and Jonas Ridge Convenience sites is factored into the increase.

What services does the county render to its citizens?

The county is bound by the N.C. General Assembly to provide the following services: 911 communications; board of commissioners; board of elections; building inspections; emergency management; emergency medical services; environmental health; medical examiner; mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services; personnel (human resources); public health; public records; register of deeds; sheriff; social services; and tax administration and collection.

The following services are not required by law, but the county provides them anyway: animal services; community development; cooperative extension; detention center; economic development; fire marshal; Foothills Conference Center; library; planning; recreation; senior services; soil and water conservation; veterans services; volunteer fire departments; waste management; and water and sewer.

What percentage of the budget goes to each of those services?

Public safety is currently at the top of the list with 30% of the budget going toward that service. It is followed by social services (26%); education (23%); general government (15%); cultural and recreation (3%); and economic development (3%).

Those numbers are similar to those of several peer counties. For instance, Gaston County's top three spending priorities are public safety (28%), health services (28%), and education (26%). Rutherford's top three items are public safety (28.2%), education (26.7%), and health services (22%). Henderson County spent $50 million on education; $43 million on public safety; and $38 million on health services. Cleveland spent $34 million on public safety, $31 million on education, and $22 million on health services.

What effect will the budget have on public safety?

Epley’s report revealed spending for the sheriff’s office, detention, and EMS services has been relatively low compared to similar counties over a period of years. 

Last year, a group of peer counties spent an average of just more than $12 million on Sheriff's offices; Burke spent $7.9 million. Peer counties averaged $8.5 million on emergency medical services; Burke spent just less than $7 million. Peer counties averaged spending $6.32 million on detention; Burke spent $4.2 million. Peer counties spent an average of $2.35 million on 911 communications; Burke spent $2.1 million.  Peer counties averaged spending just over $8 million on public health; Burke spent roughly $3.5 million.

The report also stated public health and Department of Social Services incur mostly personnel-related costs. Epley thinks it’s important to fund both areas well.

“I think the general takeaway is, there has been a lower cost requirement to operate those two departments over time, and the question becomes, what does that create? What is the cause and effect there?” he asked.

Epley reported Burke County has a higher incidence of opioid poisoning and children living in poverty and in foster care than most of its surrounding counties.

“It’s critical that we are adequately staffed in those two functions (public health and safety), because we know we stick out in certain funding driving areas,” he said.

The budget includes increased funding for the following departments: emergency management (31% increase from last year’s budget); sheriff’s department (13%); detention center (12%); emergency medical services (12%); emergency/911 communications (12%). The total increase for public safety amounts to a 12.7% increase from 2022-23.

Two of the county’s 21 volunteer fire departments, Salem and Triple Community, requested small rate hikes. One, Oak Hill, requested a slight decrease. Overall, VFDs will have an average of $79,413 in new revenue.

What about education?

Epley indicated Burke’s local teacher supplement is lower than that of many of its peers. He also noted the county’s teacher/student ratio of 16.5/1 is higher than that of many similar counties.

The budget recommends funding in the amount of $18.5 million for a cash-flow increase of $2.2 million. That represents a 9% increase in spending per student. The Burke County Board of Education requested an 8% increase.

Western Piedmont Community College will see an increase in funding of approximately 7.4%. The budget calls for a total allotment of roughly $2.9 million.

What other areas of concern does the budget address?

One area that has been particularly troublesome for the county in recent years is employee turnover. Of a force of approximately 600 workers, the county had 200 non-retirement separations last year. Epley said that’s substantially higher than the industry average. That much turnover negatively affects the entire system.

“These are folks who say, I choose to go to work somewhere else,” Epley said. “What we hear in exit interviews is, I don’t want to (leave), but I can’t say no to some of these other opportunities.”

As a result, Epley said it’s important to take measures to retain employees. To that end, the budget includes some upgrades, including a 5% cost-of-living adjustment. In addition, the employee 401k contribution will go from 2% to 5%. Those increases carry a price tag of $2.2 million. 

The budget includes other upgrades that should make the county more employee friendly. Merit pay will be phased out in favor of a one-time cash bonus administered organizationally. It is a return of cost avoidance and cost saving. “I think that is a wise business decision and something that promotes performance,” Epley said.

Currently, no mechanism exists to determine if performance merits pay increases, Epley told the board. The budget proposes a way to calculate that starting at the organizational level with six identified performance qualifiers. Each is worth ¼ of 1%, so all of them add up to a 1.5% increase. 

Other plans include a comprehensive pay and classification study.

“It’s all about positioning Burke County Government to be somewhere people choose to come to work,” Epley said. “We want to offer the right type of people who align with our values, and want to serve the community, and we want to keep them.”

What about the sweeping capital improvement plan the county recently introduced?

The budget includes funding for the goals the board set forth in the strategic plan. Some of those include new homes for Health and Human Services and Animal Services, a new EMS base, and a regional rehab facility.

The board identified its top capital spending priorities during the annual budget workshop earlier this year.

“Those are the things our board said were most important, and that’s what we tried to frame resource allocation around in our budget,” Epley said, adding each item in the strategic plan is measurable and data driven.

Anything else we should know?

For one thing, Burke County has been frugal in recent years, compiling a capital reserve fund (essentially a savings account) that amounts to 33.3% of the yearly budget. That number is especially robust, Epley said, and it should allow the board to accomplish many of its goals.

“When I compare where we are at 33.3% to our peer group, we’re obviously ahead, and I think that’s a strong position,” he said. “That helps us to have flexibility to invest in our priorities.”

Secondly, the budget allows for the county’s continued participation in community advancement (areas like roadside litter and trash pickup and developing a funding source for county-wide broadband availability) and economic growth and sustainment (Burke Development, Inc., Travel and Tourism, etc.).

Finally, the proposal plans for continued cooperation with the county’s nonprofit partners like Foothills Conservancy, Search and Rescue, Burke Recovery, and REACT.

What about the future?

Epley was quick to point out inflation has taken its toll on every county in the region, and Burke is no exception. And although the county lags behind in areas like median income, there are indicators that improvement is in the offing.

“There are some reasons to be optimistic,” Epley said. “For the first time in more than a decade, our county has seen population growth, at a modest half-percent. I’d point out our school system has also seen an increase in student population in the last year at about 11.5%, and this year is at about 12,001 average daily membership. I’d point out that our building and development land-use revenues are continuing to show growth. Unemployment, by definition, is fully employed in Burke County at roughly 3.5%. And our consumer spending statistics continue to show good numbers.”

Where can I access the budget?

You can read it for yourself online on the county’s website, www.burkenc.org.

Marty Queen is the senior reporter at The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or marty@thepaper.media.