[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