Macon County Manager Warren Cabe presented a budget to county commissioners last week that satisfies their wish to avoid a tax increase, but amid rising costs and ongoing capital improvements, some departments will likely come away with less than they’re hoping for.
Last year’s budget came in just over $70 million, and this year’s proposal would drop it just a bit to around $68 million, but Cabe noted that he expects grant money to supplement that number as it has in past years.
Cabe began his presentation by highlighting accomplishments of the last year, including the continuing construction of a new high school, roof repairs and replacements at the library and detention center, tennis court renovations and the beginning of a pickleball project. The county had received $3.87 million in grant funding over the last year, much of which Cabe said went toward those capital improvement projects.
Next, he highlighted big goals for the next fiscal year, including completion of the Carson convenience center, which will be entirely grant funded and should enhance the county’s ability to deal with waste and recyclables. Other goals include repairs to the Macon Early College building, remodeling the National Guard armory and keeping up on facility maintenance to avoid lengthier, costlier repairs down the road.
Answering the question people are most interested in every budget season, Cabe noted that the tax rate under his plan would remain at 27 cents per $100 of assessed property value, a number that should lead to a slight increase in revenue due to an expanded tax base and an increase in sales tax proceeds.
But even with that, the county is looking at a $7.7 million gap between the budget and requests he’s received from departments. One penny on the tax rate equals about $1.39 million in revenue, meaning if the county granted each department’s wishes, commissioners would need to raise the rate by 6 cents.
“Even as much as we can whittle and as much as we can work and as much effort as we put into it, there was no way we could get to the point we could fund all those requests, even though we know many of them are valid,” Cabe said. “It’s just a point of being able to prioritize those and make a decision on what we need to do.”
Cabe noted that he’s worked diligently with Finance Director Lindsay Leopard to crunch the numbers and determine how to close the gap while also working with conservative revenue estimates to avoid unforeseen shortfalls down the road.
“For instance, there was another request for an ambulance remount on there, and we ended up taking that out,” Cabe, a former EMS director, told commissioners. “Sheriffs used to budget for six cars, and this time we took it down to four cars just so we could make sure we maintain a budget that’s at tight as possible but still maintain the minimal services that we can get and yet not have to force you to do a tax increase you weren’t comfortable with.”
Macon County Schools and Southwestern Community College requested a sizable combined increase of $3.59 million for a total of $14.26 million. While under Cabe’s plan, the schools wouldn’t get that much, he does recommend appropriating $1.15 million from the fund balance to help bridge the gap, something he said isn’t uncommon but hasn’t been done in a couple of years.
“The reason I’m OK with that is traditionally on average over the last four years, every year our fund balance has grown by about $4 million,” he said.
“That number right there is probably gonna be a wash with the number we put back into fund balance,” he added. “I don’t see you decreasing your fund balance. I think it’d be safe to say we’re probably going to break even or grow it a little bit even by using this appropriation.”
SCC itself is requesting funding for two large projects — the paving of its driving track necessary for its CDL program and a renovation to the National Guard Armory building.
“If I had to push an urgency for anything, I would say I would like to have the driving track come back before you in the July meeting so we can appropriate that funding, because I know if the board is so inclined, they’ve already got the details worked out for class to start this fall,” Cabe said.
Macon County is part of the Fontana Regional Library System, along with Swain and Jackson counties. However, with the pending withdrawal of Jackson County, the county’s libraries are requesting about $400,000 more than they had last year for a total of $1.63 million. For now, Cabe proposed $1.25 million for the library system. At the FRL board meeting, which overlapped with the Macon County Commission meeting, trustees proposed returning excess funds to counties, including $525,402 to Macon.
The budget does factor in a 2% cost of living raise for all employees, will bring paygrades in line with employee experience and cover the increase in health insurance rates. It will also include more money to go toward the state retirement system, as mandated by law.
Cabe also discussed the county’s debt service, which is currently at about $9.29 million per year but is forecast to fall to $3.37 million by 2045. This, he said, means that commissioners should consider that they will have room to finance larger projects, if advantageous, down the road.
“In certain situations, debt service is not a bad thing, and if you have the capacity, it’s something you need to look at, particularly if you start looking at a justice center that’s going to be a $50 million-plus facility,” Cabe said.
Wrapping up his presentation, Cabe recommended that commissioners consider their priorities for future projects, evaluate existing commitments for the fund balance, continue to address unforeseen maintenance and repair issues and make sure funding decisions correlate with existing financial policies.
Commissioners will discuss the budget in more detail during an upcoming work session, where they will also hear from department heads about specific needs and requests.