The Fontana Regional Library System board voted last week to return over a million dollars of taxpayer money currently sitting in its general fund to its member counties.
The motion was brought during a meeting at Cashiers’ Albert Carlton Library by Trustee Lori Richards, of Jackson County, who clearly spent a good deal of time crunching the numbers to arrive at her final conclusion.
Under Richards’ motion, distributions would total about $1.35 million with money going to each of the three member counties — Jackson, Macon and Swain.
“A paramount duty of this board is to elevate our organization to its highest potential while fostering transparency, accountability and financial stewardship of public resources,” Richards said.
According to Richards, FRL has a fund balance of about $2.7 million. The budget presented to the board during that same meeting, which factored in Jackson County’s pending withdrawal, was set at $2.87 million, meaning the fund balance would be close to 100% of annual operating cost.
Richards, who represents Jackson County on the board, made the motion to redistribute those funds to the counties, with Jackson receiving $738,696, Macon receiving $525,402 and Swain receiving $86,213. She brought with her handouts for board members that included tables, so they could see her process. To verify her calculations, she had already run the numbers by Board Chair and Interim Director Bill McGaha, of Macon County, who agreed with her conclusions. She noted that an attorney had also reviewed the motion.
North Carolina’s Local Government Commission recommends maintaining a minimum available general fund balance of at least 8% of annual operating expenses. Board policy dictates that FRL keeps that number above 25%. Richards’ proposal would leave 30% of annual operating expenses in the fund balance, $859,791.
Trustee Cynthia Womble jumped in with a number of questions on the complex motion, which was a late addition to the agenda and asked board members to vote after only receiving the data numbers behind the motion the night before. Womble, who along with fellow Swain County trustee Tony Monnat, has been a frequent dissenter from the majority of the board on high-impact decision, noted that she didn’t have a chance to review the numbers until that morning.
Womble asked whether the proposed action was discussed with the three member counties, considering they’re all party to the interlocal agreement that binds the system. McGaha answered her question.
“No, and I think a corollary would be, they don’t approve our budgets,” McGaha said. “They get our request, and they place in their budget … it is obviously to all the benefit proportionally.”
Womble disagreed with the last part of that statement, noting that Swain County has for 80 years provided free use of a facility for the FRL headquarters.
“I know because I talked to the Swain County commissioners pretty regularly that they have been concerned that they’re providing this free space to Fontana Regional Library, and that it’s not appreciated by the other two counties when they see this,” she said. “I am concerned that they’re going to look at the percentage that Swain is getting and say it was based only on the cash that was put in the budget and not on the value of at least what would have had to be leased office space that Swain County has been providing.”
Womble was also concerned that Finance Officer Lisa Kim Fisher, who scribbled notes and highlighted numbers throughout Richards’ explanation of her calculations, hadn’t been given the chance to weigh in on the motion before it was made. Womble added that she thought Fisher should at least review the numbers, since she has a “fiduciary responsibility to the state as a bonded officer” to ensure the “financial liability” of the organization.
“So Mr. Chair, could we ask the finance officer what her recommendation is as a CPA and professional in finance?” Womble asked.
“We can, but you don’t,” McGaha began.
“Ask her in public on the record?” Womble interrupted.
“Excuse me, if you want to put words or thoughts into my mind, go ahead, but I think I can speak for myself,” McGaha said. “We can, but we’re not going to ask her what she thinks about 25%, because that is our policy.”
Richards included in her motion that both Fisher, an independent auditor and McGaha would review the calculations before the numbers are finalized to ensure they’re accurate.
“100% of those numbers will come from [Fisher],” McGaha said. “She is the only person in the FRL that can provide that information.”
Womble requested more time to review the calculations and go over them with Richards to figure out how to adjust the numbers to factor in Swain’s gift of a headquarters building over the years. She made a motion to table the issue to be heard at the board’s June 22 meeting. Monnat seconded the motion.
“There’s a lot of work in this document that y’all did. I’m going to guess at least days, minimum days, maybe weeks,” he said. “I’ve had less than well 24 hours to look at it, and I just don’t feel good voting on this … and I’m betting that there is some folks in Swain County and maybe Macon County that want to see this too and understand it.”
That motion failed as it only had support from Womble and Monnat.
Ultimately, the board voted to approve the distribution of surplus funds. Prior to the June 22 meeting, the numbers will be updated to include compensation for the in-kind donation of the headquarters building and will also consider which funds would be excluded, including grants and donations.
The final vote will be held at the June 22 meeting at the Macon County Public Library.