[0:05] foreign

[1:04] thank you

[1:11] foreign

[1:22] [Music]

[1:42] thank you

[2:05] good afternoon ladies and gentlemen uh it is now six o'clock and it is

[2:12] designated time for this special session of the Randolph County Commissioner says

[2:18] we conclude the budget process tonight that will carry this County and all of

[2:24] our departments through the next fiscal year starting July 1 of 2023 and going

[2:30] through June 30 of 2024. and from looks of the crowd here tonight

[2:37] um it's like y'all's lives is in our hands or

[2:41] something whether or not you're going to be able

[2:44] to eat tomorrow morning but and that's the way it should be and I want to say

[2:48] and I hope they won't forget later but all of you have been involved in this

[2:53] process over the last month and it's most appreciated and keeping us informed

[2:58] and educated sharing your your needs you've done that

[3:03] very professionally if we've gone through this process and that's most

[3:07] appreciated I do want to note a couple of things we are being streamed live on

[3:13] on Facebook but we're not on YouTube tonight as you know we're in a different

[3:20] area so we that will be recorded and posted later on YouTube but tonight

[3:27] we're just live on Facebook for the Commissioners and the others here these

[3:34] mics are a little less sensitive than what we have at the courthouse so please

[3:39] speak directly into the mics clearly whenever you uh are speaking tonight or

[3:44] making motions asking questions so with that we will get this process started

[3:53] this is our agenda for tonight and the first item is

[3:58] close out budget amendments an accounting process we have to go through

[4:03] each year at this time talking with Will he's going to present

[4:07] each one of these together and if any commissioner has one that you

[4:12] want to take out the vote separately but if not we will vote on the group in one

[4:18] motion once so will completes his presentation so if you have one that you

[4:23] want more about or vote separately just please let me know and we'll do that but

[4:29] I'll turn it over to will for the budget amendments okay thank you Mr chairman

[4:33] this is our last chance to clean up a few things for the first two on the list

[4:39] there's too much amendments for the tourism Development Authority we have a

[4:43] special Revenue fund that kind of matches what the TDA board approves for

[4:46] the actual budget the first one was for 11 1 104 billion

[4:52] the board approved that and TDA board approved that on May the 18th

[4:56] there's a second one for the TDA for 2500 the board TDA board will consider

[5:01] that at their Wednesday meeting coming up later this week so we're a little bit

[5:05] out of order but again you know this is the last chance to get some of these

[5:09] things approved next one on the list

[5:13] was for the site development Capital project fund

[5:16] and she recall back in 2020 we Advanced to energy some money six hundred

[5:23] thousand dollars to relocate the power lines

[5:26] that was to be refunded when they had a customer at the mega site which has

[5:30] happened and the last I heard we were supposed to be getting that those funds

[5:34] returned pretty shortly we have the I-74 industrial center

[5:39] project where we are going to straighten the

[5:43] road out and the dot is currently studying that but there's going to be a

[5:48] cost involved to relocate that so this These funds is a good start for the cost

[5:54] for straightening the road if the board so chooses

[6:00] next is an adjustment to the Asheboro High School

[6:03] renovation project we need to make sure we cover all the Professional Services

[6:08] that are related to that they were doing some concrete work at the end there were

[6:12] some Professional Services fees that are need to be covered with

[6:16] that that's seventy thousand dollars to finish that project out for Professional

[6:20] Services it's not adding anything to the project just moving uh the funds from

[6:24] construction to Professional Services

[6:27] next is some final closeout projects we have a juvenile day reporting Center

[6:33] renovation project that came in under budget we have some funds available

[6:37] we have a courthouse renovation project which finished up last last summer there

[6:43] were some supply chain issues that kind of carried over and we never did do the

[6:47] final transfer to clear that out so uh we have a

[6:52] and then there's some leftover funds that come in moved to the Capitol

[6:55] Reserve as well so

[6:58] there's three amendments one's for the jdrc renovation Capital project

[7:03] once for the courthouse renovation project to show those funds coming in

[7:06] and cleaning that one up and we'll be able to close both of those projects and

[7:10] then the remaining twenty seven thousand 609 goes to the

[7:14] Reserve

[7:18] and then finally this isn't a budget amendment but

[7:22] we have the 2.5 million dollar grant that we've got from division of

[7:27] Environmental Quality which we are using to update or upgrade the connection to

[7:33] um from seagro ulo Metropolitan water district to the city of Asheboro

[7:38] we've done the design work on that but we can't apply for any of those grants

[7:42] until the EQ approves the bid design and everything which has not happened yet so

[7:48] at June 30th I fully expect that you know we will have advanced you know up

[7:53] to 250 000 and I just want to get the board approval to show that as an

[7:58] advance we will get reimbursed interested at

[8:00] June 30th at year end I just need a board of approval to show that that

[8:04] general fund is Advanced 250 thousand dollars

[8:10] any questions of Will on the budget amendments

[8:14] anything at all all right if it's a pledge of the board

[8:18] It'll ask that have a motion to approve all six of the budget amendments

[8:28] I'll make that motion to uh to approve the closeout budget amendments as stated

[8:35] in the agenda they have to be cleaned up for before our June 30th you're in so

[8:42] I'll make that motion do I have a second second I have a motion in a second any

[8:47] other discussion or questions those in favor let it be normal saying

[8:51] aye uh I propose no and it passes unanimously the next item is the capital

[8:56] Improvement plan will all right thank you sir just briefly you know we're

[9:02] wrapping up the Asheboro high school project the detention center and the

[9:06] Northgate project North Gate just has a little bit that we'll probably do for

[9:10] the uh the clinic area but for the most part that project's pretty close to

[9:14] being finished we'll be bidding out soon the AG Center the public health

[9:17] renovation Human Services Center up on Balfour Avenue I-74 sewer work and

[9:24] cigarvula sewer line improvements once the design is approved and still pending

[9:30] we still have out there a historic Courthouse project rural motor and Sewer

[9:34] improvements where we have the funding for from arpa that we just haven't

[9:38] decided on those projects yet I will be meeting with the both school systems

[9:42] here shortly to find out what their overall needs are going to be over the

[9:46] next couple of years which we can formulate into a plan and the board can

[9:50] address that in the future Capital Improvement plan

[9:54] any questions of wheel on the capital Improvement plan it's been a lot going

[9:58] on still is but um keeping up with

[10:03] any questions all right

[10:06] next item is to approve the school and fire tax rates

[10:13] we have the two school systems the artscale Trinity

[10:18] supplemental tax district and the Asheboro City School supplemental tax

[10:23] District um

[10:27] the Archdale Trinity is doing a revenue neutral from

[10:32] 9.22 cents down to 7.03 cents and since that's my area I will make a motion to

[10:40] approve and set the Archdale Transit supplemental tax District at .0703 cents

[10:47] second have a second discussion those in favor will say aye those no

[10:54] it's approved Asheboro City Schools current rate is

[10:59] 14.39 cents it's going to 11.53 cents on Revenue neutral

[11:06] is there a motion to approve and set the Asheboro City supplemental tax District

[11:12] at Point 11 53. Mr chairman I'll be glad to make that motion to set that

[11:19] .1153 do I have a second no second further discussion

[11:24] those in favor will let it know him be known by saying aye

[11:29] and it passes fire department tax rates and this has

[11:34] been one of the issues that um we we have been working on and working

[11:41] on and listening to for well actually for months as we've gone

[11:46] through this process with each department and they've been working with

[11:51] us and keeping us informed um

[11:55] board is aware the public is aware that all of the fire departments this is my

[12:01] recollection never happened before there's always three or four different

[12:05] ones but this year all 18 of the fire departments are

[12:10] requesting that their rates stay as they are

[12:14] of course what makes this different or more significant this year

[12:20] is that we've gone through evaluation at the same time there are a lot of

[12:26] issues dealing with our fire departments and all of our

[12:32] public service and public safety issues and departments in this County and that

[12:38] includes EMS that includes the sheriff's department DSS so many I can tell you

[12:45] that counties and cities all around us are

[12:49] trying to hire our people after we pay to train them

[12:55] I grew up in a home where my dad was a volunteer fireman that's that's almost

[13:00] unheard of today volunteer firemen have to be trained and

[13:05] equipped and insured just like a paid a paid fireman is but a lot of issues

[13:12] radios communication so that is the issues that we've been hearing from our

[13:18] various fire departments around the county

[13:22] said the public many times when we dedicated this

[13:27] building over here

[13:31] if we're the one makes a call in the middle of the night and needs help our

[13:34] house is on fire our child is hurt our wife's having a

[13:39] stroke but we'd be Mighty glad to see somebody pull up in our driveway to

[13:44] start providing

[13:48] help so that's where we are for this board and

[13:52] that's the request that has been before us through this whole process is that

[13:56] the rates remain as they are I would say some of these discussions

[14:01] too we still have some departments

[14:06] that are not filing proper financial statements

[14:11] and that's going to be expected as we go forward

[14:17] it has it has to be if we're going to be accountable to the public then we have

[14:22] to we have to make those statements available

[14:26] we have some departments that have not done that

[14:31] also there won't be any more tax increases

[14:35] for for some time so if that if this is approved then those are the expectations

[14:42] as we go forward so I'm going to see the comments for the board

[14:49] how do you how you choose to proceed with this request from the fire

[14:54] departments all fire departments that their rates remain as they are currently

[15:01] Mr chairman um just to get a little context to the

[15:05] amount of dollars we're talking about a little math from what will it provided

[15:08] the the old Levy was almost right at 12 million dollars

[15:13] the new Levy based on the increase in the tax values would be 16.3 million

[15:19] dollars for all 18 departments and that's about a 4.4 million dollar

[15:22] increase around 37 overall which is a pretty hefty ask when uh when I was

[15:29] growing up I'd go to my parents for a pretty hefty ask I'd usually get what I

[15:34] wanted but I had to have a lecture about it

[15:37] beforehand so

[15:40] here's the lecture beforehand um it is a pretty heavy ass but there

[15:46] are needs out there as far as the number of

[15:52] volunteers that were you know are not out there anymore the need to hire folks

[15:58] equipment is expensive if you can get it so there are a lot of things out there

[16:05] what concerns me by coming and asking is one that each in the individual fire

[16:11] departments kind of loses their uniqueness and there's going to be some

[16:15] some instances of what departments that are going to need especially in my area

[16:20] I'm thinking specifically of Julian I'm going to need some special assistance

[16:24] and and but that's going to be

[16:28] for the next several years was going to be exception rather than the rule

[16:33] says the chairman said I think this this is something that we're not going

[16:37] to want to see every year 37 percent increase is

[16:42] a lot for the taxpayer and it ranges from

[16:47] 27 28 percent up to 43 for the 18 different departments excluding Julian

[16:54] the chairman mentioned the audits are 11 of the Departments they're in good

[16:58] standing and complete their audits two others are essentially not June 30th

[17:06] year ends so there are either I think one was in March another may have been

[17:12] uh later in the year so very good I consider them Goods dead but there are

[17:17] five that are not in good standing and by voting this type of tax increase

[17:22] there is absolutely no excuse for not having an audit

[17:28] and have it done in a timely manner there are also some audits are being

[17:33] done that are what I call single statement audits that's not going to be

[17:37] acceptable you need financials with full

[17:41] disclosures full footnotes full auto depends on all three financial

[17:46] statements I come from a corporate private background I call them balance

[17:52] sheet income statement and statement changes in cash flows that's what we

[17:56] need you've got the money to do it

[18:00] so do it this is taxpayer money the last thing I know there was a couple

[18:05] of departments that are using uh you know when your department you

[18:10] won't save up for some equipment you know you have some some

[18:14] funds out there but don't be investing the funds in the

[18:18] stock market

[18:20] that's just you know with taxpayer dollars

[18:25] that's that's not going to be looked upon at least in my my view that's

[18:28] taxpayer dollars put into something that's safe you can get a decent CD

[18:33] rates now it's not like it's half percent or

[18:35] something you get four four percent uh anybody you know as far as the audits

[18:41] go you've used your buying power as the uh by banding you can get others

[18:46] departments do the same thing with an auditor

[18:49] get more in order to do all the 18 so I don't get get contract deal 18 of them

[18:55] do the same uh have the same spreadsheets it'd be very simple and

[19:00] easy to do that so I encourage you to do that so Mr chairman those are my

[19:05] concerns um I think

[19:08] that we need to do this I haven't gotten a lot of pushback from the community I

[19:14] think there's still a lot of confusion over tax neutral

[19:19] Revenue neutral and I think we may hear in the first of

[19:26] uh when did they go out Deborah July 17th

[19:34] I'm gonna try to be out of town next week

[19:38] if it's anything like it was with a reevaluation so

[19:41] but it's something I think we need to do but we need to be

[19:46] cognizant that it is a taxpayer dollars end of lecture sorry

[19:51] it's it's a good lecture it's needed and we we have listened to all the fire

[19:57] departments all 18 of them pretty much the same message every one of them

[20:03] um some some of them as I said before their issues in other departments across

[20:08] the county especially where uh help were labor positions are concerned

[20:15] we're in a constant struggle with uh competition we've lost some key

[20:20] positions even this month so that is important but

[20:25] and the issues that that have been expressed here or showed across this

[20:31] board this is not a one or two it is it is

[20:35] shut but every member of this board as we've gone through this process as we've

[20:39] listened to the presentations and we've discussed those presentations among

[20:44] ourselves after we leave what we've heard

[20:47] how we feel about it and again it is a part of providing a service to the

[20:53] citizens the rate the fire rate has everything to

[20:58] do with homeowners insurance and that is the savings and without it

[21:05] it would be a very costly situation to every homeowner in this County so our

[21:10] fire departments are very important and we see it that way and make that clear

[21:15] we expect to be treated the same way in terms of what we need to have in

[21:22] entering to the public for how the money is used so with that um

[21:28] any other I'll ask for a motion and then for more discussion if one it needed is

[21:34] there a motion on the fire tax rates well I don't know if this is a little

[21:39] brief brief brief discussion and emotion probably

[21:42] um I have got some pushback when we talked about you know the theory of

[21:45] raising or excuse me lowering our General rate um down to 50 Cent you know

[21:50] that was kind of applauded maybe still high for some people the fire tax thing

[21:53] was what I got more pushback on personally than probably anything else

[21:57] because things for the math you know 30 some percent

[22:01] um but in light of recent events

[22:04] I.E last night when I needed some help four firefighters showed up

[22:10] you miss truck got there I'm still here so if that happens when I'm Informer

[22:15] next time or somewhere else I sure will hope for climax or wherever it is guys I

[22:19] hope you're there real quick and everything so I would make a motion too

[22:25] do I have a second in a motion I'll say

[22:29] further discussion good comments any other discussion on this issue

[22:34] I'd like to I'd like the second second Mr Allen's comments about the financial

[22:41] statement if I know it's important I know it's expensive

[22:45] um but you're right wouldn't some some of the districts are using

[22:52] bulletproof financial statements and this type thing and others are just kind

[22:56] of getting my cash receipts in this personal type thing

[23:00] oh sorry oh it's it's kind of uh you're looking

[23:07] at dollars and cents here with what you're

[23:12] doing and really it it's not fair to those that follow that rule

[23:18] they're full of cruel Road it's not fair to them to go through all that and yes

[23:22] it is expensive but it also tells tells the general

[23:26] public they want to know what how stable these these fire departments are

[23:32] so again I I go along with you David in the fact

[23:38] that uh these these things need to be seriously looked at in in place in place

[23:44] so that all of the financials have the same look with the same level of all

[23:50] these stance that's all I've got to say about that

[23:56] any other comments or discussions

[24:00] those in favor of the motion to retain the fire taxes at their current rates

[24:06] let it be known by saying aye aye opposed no

[24:11] and it is unanimous so again thank all of you for participating in this process

[24:17] uh next item there are some fee schedule changes

[24:21] um they're very lengthy list some of them

[24:24] were made the same you've had a copy of this or anyone have

[24:29] a question about any of the fees um I think more specific it does include

[24:34] some ambulance fee increases Donovan you want to respond to this yeah when does

[24:39] that go into effect

[24:47] next month

[24:52] um

[24:55] 13 to um

[25:08] um what's the pleasure of the board you want to bring this back next month

[25:14] Donald I think a lot of us like for Medicaid to get it up to Medicaid

[25:19] reimbursable rates too is that that is correct it brings us up to the Medicare

[25:25] allowable the fee code right

[25:36] about it I don't know any reason why we couldn't go ahead and I mean we've had

[25:40] your hands yeah I haven't heard anything from anybody

[25:46] yeah if you wanted to do that but I'm certain I'm all for it

[25:52] yeah just do I have a motion is that for the whole group

[25:57] yes I'll make that motion I'll second Motion

[26:03] in seconds to adopt the fee schedules and election poll worker pay rates yes

[26:08] as presented further discussion questions

[26:13] [Music] um

[26:19] the consideration of budget inclusions of outside agencies with commissioner

[26:24] involvement Commissioners that serve on these

[26:27] agencies cannot vote on their budget that's the reason we're bringing these

[26:32] back it's really a part of the process it's part of the budget but we have to

[26:37] vote in this manner the first one is the Randolph County

[26:42] Economic Development Corporation we had public hearing on that last Monday night

[26:47] for their funding and since I am on that board I will have to I will ask the

[26:55] board to recuse me from has to be recused from voting on that um

[27:01] that budget instead of a motion so moved have a

[27:05] second second those in favor say aye aye those no now do I have a motion to

[27:11] approve the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation budget so moved

[27:17] have a second second further discussion those in favor let it be known as seeing

[27:23] aye opposed no

[27:26] passes four to nothing next one is the budgetal allocation for

[27:31] Sandhill Center commissioner Allen serves on that board make a motion that

[27:36] he'd be recused from voting on The Sandhill Center budget I'll make that

[27:40] motion and second those in favor we'll say I I suppose no

[27:46] David you are accused okay don't have a motion to approve the allocation for

[27:51] Sandhill Center I make that motion in the amount of 844

[27:55] thousand dollars we have a second I'll second that as well I will say and I

[28:01] mentioned this um when that budget was presented

[28:06] that 18 844 thousand dollars has been there for 19 consecutive years

[28:14] we've never had a budget like that and a lot of changes taking place in these

[28:19] lmes and it's not likely that that's going to stay that way maybe not even

[28:24] another year but we'll find out more all right

[28:28] next is have a motion to approve the Sandhill

[28:32] Center but those in favor will say aye

[28:36] aye opposed no passes four to nothing excellent is a budget allocation family

[28:42] crisis center commissioner Kidd is a member of that board

[28:47] make the most commotion to recuse myself yes all right somebody's taking it yeah

[28:52] those in favor will say aye opposed no commissioner kid is recused do I have a

[28:58] motion to approve the family crisis center budget allocation

[29:02] I'll make that motion second all right commissioner McDowell made the motion Mr

[29:09] Haywood does the second and further discussion those in favor will say aye

[29:14] aye opposed no four to nothing thank you

[29:18] okay um this next item is to consider a

[29:23] designation of Toyota battery manufacturing property taxes

[29:28] as that project is evolving in the values are increasing literally by

[29:36] the day over there as the buildings are going up and on now and the anticipated

[29:42] Revenue that will come from that project we're going to have some more school

[29:48] Capital needs in in the short term others and rather than just we've had

[29:56] some conversations and this this is really not for emotion or that sort of

[30:00] thing but just for some discussion and it can be ongoing discussions but sort

[30:05] of we set that aside we have a rainy day fund how do we handle the Toyota taxes

[30:12] when when they start coming in of course we're committed to

[30:18] points for incentive reimbursements on that project of course as we go forward

[30:22] but still it'll be a significant uh benefit to the county as we as we do

[30:29] that so anybody want to

[30:32] have any comments or as I said it'll be a working process I I'm not trying to

[30:38] set a policy tonight but just making you aware

[30:42] that is an issue and how how we need to address it well you want to make any

[30:47] commentary no I think the proposal was that the

[30:50] special Revenue fund would be set up to collect when we receive the

[30:54] distributions you know tax distributions from Toyota's set it in the special

[30:57] Revenue fund the incentives would be paid out of that and what's left is

[31:01] available for the Commissioners to be strategic in how you use that and so

[31:05] we'll bring it up now because this upcoming year will be the first year

[31:09] that you know Toyota is paying a major major taxes but aren't we getting close

[31:13] to a billion what are we getting over there the

[31:17] actual taxes no the the values are all right you know it's not close to that

[31:24] well it you know the rebound January the first

[31:27] if it's still construction progress yeah so there's not

[31:31] much but you know they continue to work very very strongly so yeah when we have

[31:35] the evaluation at January 1st of 2024 it's it's really going to kick in some

[31:42] right but it depends on how fast their actual construction keeps going

[31:47] tonight Mr chairman one one thing that in the

[31:52] agricultural Community has been talked about is uh online preservation I saw uh

[31:57] I think the North Carolina agricultural Commissioners Steve foxford indicated

[32:02] that over a million Acres of Farmland could be lost in the next several years

[32:05] and one of the things I know Toyota is committed to

[32:11] environmental uh you know awareness and that did take a significant amount

[32:18] of farmland and one of the things I hope this board

[32:21] might consider is some some type of program we've got some ideas about how

[32:28] that could be recycled preserve Farmland in the county especially in the Eastern

[32:31] side of the County so I just want to put that out there I'll know that the

[32:35] voluntary AG District board is has some thoughts on that as

[32:40] well so when the time comes I'd like to keep that on the radar going forward

[32:46] because it that site did take a significant number

[32:50] of farms in Farmland over there and I think it'd be good to kind of recycle

[32:55] that back to loss of that Farmland to protect

[33:00] Farmland in the area

[33:05] any other comments

[33:08] all right so we are now down to this proposed Randolph County budget for

[33:15] 23-24 uh as you all know we've gone through

[33:20] pre-departmental presentations and requests that have been made some of

[33:24] those have been included a lot of them have been included in this budget

[33:28] in particular several positions are not included in this budget

[33:35] it is recommended and you'll see this in in these numbers

[33:39] and really going back to the public safety issue here and we talked about a

[33:44] little bit with the fire departments while ago

[33:48] EMS

[33:51] we still have trouble hiring we have trouble training

[33:57] um Randolph Community College has always trained our paramedics EMTs and uh

[34:05] we've had some issues with the timing of that delays and getting that done

[34:10] so one of the proposals that we had was to to bring that in-house and to and to

[34:15] create a paramedic Academy a paramedic in-house

[34:20] training facility so a lot of those things

[34:25] were not included in the budget we've had meetings follow-up meetings

[34:29] commissioner Allen and I met last week with Hal and will Joey

[34:34] going over these issues and a strong feeling with it this really needs to be

[34:39] done in the budget there's there's a cost of living there's a I think four

[34:46] hundred thousand dollar fund set aside for Market adjustments

[34:50] I know that involves the sheriff's department

[34:53] and our environmental we lost two environmental Specialists out of three

[34:58] lost two-thirds of our environmental Specialists just in the last month

[35:04] one to Moore County and one to Guilford County

[35:08] so trying to address that just a couple things that came out from

[35:15] from our and then the focus has been on on these adjustments and some ad backs

[35:21] for EMS in that department um

[35:27] we're adding back for uh and I was saying on the revenue side

[35:33] um we have raised will have raised the estimate for sales tax revenue

[35:39] his original budget was at two percent to fund these additions we raise the

[35:46] sales tax projection to five percent

[35:50] put that in perspective in this current year

[35:53] sales tax is 14 percent so we've done well people spending

[36:00] spending money so if it's cut in half we'd still would still be

[36:07] ahead of the game a little bit look we think that's good there will be some

[36:12] money coming to the county for the medic Medicaid expansion to help pay for some

[36:18] of these positions some that are in the budget we talked about fees while ago we

[36:23] adopted those fees that's in this budget

[36:28] are the same as they were this year so the the increases that we just

[36:34] approved is not a factor in revenue on this budget so that's that's another uh

[36:40] a little uh buffer we have there also in projecting some additional revenues I

[36:46] will say this this budget to balance it does not include any appropriation of

[36:53] fund balance and we've done that in recent years we

[36:57] always make it up as the year goes by and the revenues

[37:01] come in but in this case this year we did not

[37:05] have to budget any of our fund balance so we're okay with that so

[37:10] with that the proposed changes are at a fire inspector three

[37:18] and basically add another shift of paramedics in the field and on an

[37:23] ambulance additional that's four positions four paramedics for field

[37:30] training officers the

[37:34] the academy

[37:37] the primedic academy includes a training officer to do the training and hiring 10

[37:45] new paramedic positions the training officer would be hired

[37:51] immediately the 10 positions in order to advertise and hire would start January

[37:57] the first

[38:00] most of the turnover in EMS is on the night shift

[38:05] so the proposal is that we had a paid differential of 10 percent

[38:11] for the night shift I think Donovan isn't it about nine out of 10 or

[38:17] something like that that you've lost to come from night shift work

[38:22] so we're trying to address that again we're trying to hold on to the people we

[38:26] get them trained we want to keep them here we want to be able to continue to

[38:30] provide the services that's a hundred and eight thousand one

[38:33] hundred fifty eight dollars

[38:37] that those positions to add and put another ambulance on the road in the

[38:42] field they have to have heart monitors defibrillators CPR equipment and that's

[38:48] uh for equipment capital outlay is another hundred and forty thousand

[38:53] dollars so this increase is a million three

[38:58] forty three eight ninety nine all for EMS

[39:03] there was nothing in the original budget for education

[39:07] so to fund Randolph County Schools one million five nineteen nine ten that with

[39:13] the request that would we

[39:16] um current expense we have to fund both

[39:20] systems equally per pupil so to fund the camp we play off the county that's the

[39:26] biggest system then the Asheboro City Schools would be 442 784.

[39:32] that's actually a little more than what their request was but when we meet the

[39:37] per pupil that's how that's how the numbers come out

[39:42] we had some ribbing we had some discussions in one of our meetings for

[39:47] vehicles I think between Cooperative Extension

[39:51] and building maintenance so to solve that problem we're giving

[39:56] them both trucks so two four building inspections I mean

[40:01] Building Maintenance and the one vehicle for Cooperative Extension

[40:06] but with the schools the schools request is a million the total million 962 694

[40:14] that's 56 and a half percent so Public Safety and public education in this

[40:20] County 95.24 of these changes are for those two

[40:25] things to provide Public Safety and provide

[40:29] funding for the education in this County and I think that tells you how this

[40:35] board feels about our our job here they say government should do not do

[40:41] should do for people what they can't do for themselves

[40:44] and we don't drive embassies and we we don't know how to deliver those Services

[40:48] we don't know how to go out when there's a breaking and

[40:52] entering and all the things in the middle of the night and 24-hour calls we

[40:57] don't know how to do that but so that's that's the focus of the changes the

[41:01] additions that we made with this budget um

[41:05] we did add there was an increase in the requests

[41:09] from senior adults basically for the meals that are

[41:13] delivered to the needies of our County I don't know if some of you were there

[41:18] when when Mark made his presentation but the percentage of the of

[41:27] people our our population is greater in the over 65 than it is in

[41:35] the zero to 17 years and that that's a concern

[41:40] is that zero to Seventeen we're going to be looking to to fill these jobs

[41:45] so and Senior adults has to meet those

[41:49] needs so we're adding back 30 to 30 258 dollars for senior adults for those

[41:57] meals for our seniors here in the county so all of that the revenues and and the

[42:04] additions are balanced at three million 471 851

[42:10] the managers proposed

[42:14] budget is a 169 195 179 our final budget is 172 172 million six hundred and sixty

[42:26] seven thousand and thirty dollars so that's a that's a breakdown of the

[42:32] additions that that we put back we feel confident in in the revenue

[42:38] stream that we will have the 600 000 that's coming back from Duke

[42:44] Energy that was for the design of the power lines at the mega site

[42:49] and you've heard replying that to the

[42:53] straightening the the road up to I-74 Industrial Park

[42:57] um we got a little over a million dollar

[43:00] refund from the county schools for um the Trinity middle school project

[43:09] it came in under budget so we've set that money aside for expansion and we

[43:15] will have some more funds coming that was originally targeted for the hospital

[43:20] it will not be needed in for dealing with public health which includes our

[43:26] health department and Social Services we will use those funds for expansion and

[43:32] to meet the requirements for Medicaid so

[43:36] that's uh that's where we are with this budget that's the recommendation that's

[43:41] before this board and I'll ask for questions or comments

[43:46] and then would have a motion

[43:50] um on the budget

[43:53] and um

[43:56] have a an adoption a motion to adopt this budget which would also set the tax

[44:03] rate for the county at 50 cents

[44:08] that's from 63.27 cents

[44:13] down to 50 cents and that will go into effect July the

[44:17] first

[44:20] we told we told the citizens of the county

[44:24] when the new values were mailed that we would do Revenue neutral and that's what

[44:31] we've done and we continue to deliver services to

[44:36] the citizens and I think as say here in those areas where it is most needed I

[44:41] know that the sheriff the money we've set aside

[44:46] will help him to retain his positions and provide some pay increases for

[44:51] deputies over there so that's uh that's all a part of this budget as we go

[44:57] forward so

[45:00] comments or I just like to make one little comment about the senior adults

[45:06] about the senior Adult association in conversation with Chad Williams and

[45:12] student services at RCC last week I found out that they work sometimes to

[45:20] help get transportation for their students

[45:24] that are in job training programs and they don't have transportation and so

[45:30] they are able to work with our senior adults and the transportation system our

[45:36] cats and get transportation for these um

[45:41] you know people of whatever age that are in school at RCC so it provides far more

[45:48] than um you know Meals on Wheels and and

[45:52] Services for Seniors and I just thought that was important to note I also think

[45:58] it's important to make a comment about the academy many counties have done that

[46:04] and I it seems to be in large part because of the scheduling and having

[46:12] consistency in educating your people and it would be hard for a program to work

[46:21] around that if it is not done in-house so I do think that that will be more

[46:27] effective for us so

[46:33] you know all the outside agencies made presentations to us and sent in requests

[46:40] you did not hear any of that in this process

[46:44] we will deal with those in order with strategic planning money

[46:48] that's the money from the landfill our landfill contract after July the first

[46:53] that that will not be a part of this budget we will deal with that with

[46:59] strategic planning money this time we haven't done that before we've done

[47:04] some one way some another but those agencies will be uh will be dealt with

[47:09] with strategic planning money after July the first so other comments I just got a

[47:16] quick comment and maybe a question for Donovan on the academy again same

[47:20] subject and of course you know I won't qualify people showing up so

[47:25] um the uh so on that Academy you know when you bring that in-house and do that

[47:30] um are you your your training officer is he going to be an Adjunct professor from

[47:36] a different community college system or is that how does that work is that you

[47:39] know we had that discussion primarily the the training officers

[47:55] coursework like Cardiology or OBGYN a Pediatrics pediatrician

[48:00] s resources as well

[48:06] so there will be Affiliated somehow as an adjunct with a community college

[48:11] system well I know we had a pretty I felt like important meeting with the

[48:15] chairman and myself and you and a bunch of your staff about you know the

[48:19] training at Randolph Community College and how that's just kind of have we ever

[48:23] heard back from them anything at all um

[48:39] I mean that's kind of disappointing for me which I'm glad we're doing this we

[48:42] got to take the bull by the horns and get it done again I want some highly

[48:45] qualified people there um but it's just kind of interesting

[48:49] that we can get a couple other Community College systems in the state to work

[48:52] with us hand in hand and the guy across the street we're having some problems

[48:55] with so with this Academy

[49:00] the only reason we will need to know

[49:07] uh

[49:11] they all explained that well so but thank you I didn't mean to drag you into

[49:16] a good way thank you good another comment

[49:19] I'm Mr chairman I think as always

[49:25] with Hal and will and the department heads and everybody involved in the

[49:28] budget will staff who we generally have our planning retreat

[49:34] in February and kind of set some priorities and

[49:38] uh will and how they ended up getting it done and appreciate them doing that

[49:43] because they come back with a budget that we've asked them to present and

[49:48] we've had a few things here based on what we've heard in the in the uh budget

[49:53] meetings that we've had public meetings the last couple weeks but I'm always

[49:57] impressed with the job that they do we ask them to do something

[50:01] they take that run with it and come back with uh

[50:06] something that we we don't have to do heavy lifting it's water the mouse too

[50:11] so appreciate their work and their recommendations and

[50:15] I think the uh

[50:19] the budget is is good um

[50:23] our department heads are always cognizant of costs and we appreciate

[50:28] that I'm very pleased that we can go Revenue

[50:33] neutral when so many of our other

[50:37] municipalities are not and so I think supporting that we value

[50:44] the taxpayer dollar and I think in this budget

[50:47] we're doing that this is everybody just a little bit different a couple years

[50:52] ago when we were dealing with not knowing what was going to happen with

[50:55] Kobe that was a shot in the dark on that budget so I won't say this is a I think

[50:59] this is my ninth one this is not the hardest one we've ever done but they're

[51:04] all different and have different things that we have to deal with

[51:07] but I appreciate what will and Hal and their staffs do

[51:12] yeah I won't say there's there's still a lot that's not included in this budget

[51:16] and in particular in positions now if you remember last year

[51:21] would do pretty much the same process especially with vehicles

[51:27] as our year goes along and we kind of see where we are and we're trailing in

[51:31] with our revenues sometime around the first of the year calendar year we might

[51:36] come back and look and see how we're doing some of those more pressing needs

[51:41] we'll we can reconsider that we've done that the last couple of years until

[51:45] we've

[51:49] I think this is we feel a little better on this budget than what we've done in

[51:53] the last two or three years but the way things are going with the county we've

[51:57] got a lot of development that's still not reflected in here as far as revenue

[52:01] is concerned either do pretty significant projects up in Archdale take

[52:07] the Mark here Energizer battery here in Asheboro

[52:10] a lot of those things taking place outside of the Toyota project so

[52:15] I think that all of those are both well for our future so but at the same time

[52:22] they they put pressure on these very things that we're trying to address here

[52:25] and I think you're seeing that and uh unanimous support for this EMS or

[52:33] Emergency Services some of these we've looked at for two or

[52:37] three years and we still have some out there to be done and we've got a tower

[52:41] that's going up and other things get to come so

[52:46] our fire departments still have the radios we there might be some money in

[52:51] the state budget but at best it wouldn't cover maybe half of what the cost of

[52:57] those radios are for our fire department so

[53:01] we had hoped for a little better result on that that would take what we could

[53:05] get so with that there's no more discussion do I have a motion on the

[53:11] 23-24 Randolph County budget well nobody else was alive Mr chairman

[53:18] I'll uh make a motion that we adopt the budgeting ordinance for fiscal year 2023

[53:24] 2024 with the following changes you had outlined and said at the adlorn tax rate

[53:31] at 50 cents per hundred dollars evaluation which produces a budget of 1

[53:38] million 172 million 667.3 667 thousand dollars and thirty

[53:46] dollars I'm gonna count I can't even read that's

[53:48] a big number I wasn't I wasn't expecting 100

[53:54] 172 million 667 thousand thirty dollars do I have a second to the motion I'll

[54:01] second that all right any other discussion on this budget

[54:05] King Nine those in favor of adopting the budget as presented and as revised later

[54:13] known by saying I I suppose no budget passes unanimously so we have a budget

[54:20] for 2023-24 and to all of you that have been

[54:25] loyal and and helpful in keeping us through this process we thank you for

[54:31] that and that's auntie

[54:34] most counties don't do it like this folks

[54:37] we have great cooperation here through our departments and in particular those

[54:43] that are out here on the fine line all the time

[54:47] and I hope that you sense that the appreciation and the significance that

[54:53] this budget presents and um we look forward to having having a good

[54:58] year together again thank all of you for taking your part and keeping us informed

[55:04] helping us get through this process so we have a budget we have one more

[55:10] agenda item

[55:14] we've had some conflicting information but

[55:18] a Eastern Piedmont North Carolina home and

[55:23] that's a NC home h-o-m-e Consortium

[55:27] and it has to do with subsidized housing um

[55:33] a lot of municipalities are getting into that and this one the lead agency is the

[55:39] City of Burlington

[55:42] we can join whether or not we ever take a part in it it's a it's still to be

[55:49] determined we get two seats on that board

[55:55] Davidson County one of the requirements is

[55:58] it has to be congruent and Davidson County wants to join and

[56:04] they can't join if we don't join now that in itself is not a reason to do

[56:09] it this does not commit us to any funding

[56:13] and but we'll join and then I guess find out

[56:18] it's all I hate to say that but it's uh

[56:26] office last year sitting on a little presentation there's

[56:31] been some more changes since then but it's there if a developer wants to take

[56:35] advantage of it it'll be there so

[56:39] that this is a motion for us to approve a resolution of the county supporting

[56:47] the creation of the Eastern Piedmont North Carolina home Consortium Mr

[56:52] chairman uh one of the there's more than just us and Davidson oh yeah yeah I

[57:00] remember seeing the information but I don't remember all this uh Alamance

[57:04] Guilford I think Rock and Rockingham casual pretty much those that were in

[57:10] the old original region g-cog Gilford guilford's not yeah Guilford they have

[57:15] their own they have their own that's right

[57:17] Caswell Davidson Randolph and the animal Elite agency being the city

[57:22] of Burlington's been in it for some time

[57:25] and that's the reason they're the lead agency in it so uh

[57:30] that's where we are to have a motion to support the resolution

[57:37] German I will make the motion to approve the resolution

[57:42] do they have a second I'll second that any other discussion

[57:46] those in favor related

06/19/2023 Randolph County Board of Commissioners

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