From:	C.D. Crepps
To:	Department Contacts
Cc:	Finance Office
Subject:	new year budget preparations
Sent:	TUE,MAY21@1:40PM

GREETINGS,

Last week, the County Manager unveiled his recommended budget for FY20.

NEW YEAR BUDGET PREPARATIONS
The County Manager’s recommended budget is included with the agenda packet for last week’s meeting of the Board of County Commissioners. Please read the information that is available on the County website.

CHANGES INCLUDED IN RECOMMENDED BUDGET
With the FY20 beginning budget, here is a brief recap of what’s included in fund 11 and some changes as compared to the FY19 beginning budget:

PROPERTY TAXES ** UPDATE **
-County-wide property tax rate at 62.0 cents per $100 value (no change from FY19).
-Badin Lake Fire District property tax rate at rate to be determined per $100 value (is 5.5 cents for FY19).
-Lake Tillery Fire District property tax rate at rate to be determined per $100 value (is 4.0 cents for FY19).
-Wadeville Fire District property tax rate at rate to be determined per $100 value (did not exist for FY19).

LOANS ** UPDATE **
Remaining loans include Greenridge Elementary, Jail, QSCB, and the new high school. Loan payments on the new high school will not affect fund 11 during the construction period.

PERSONNEL ** UPDATE **
For personnel, there are a few changes (all benefits should follow salaries):
1) salaries of two detention officers will be budgeted in Jail (11-3-3-442-100) instead of H.R. (11-3-1-405-100); budget for part-time wages has been reduced and part-time help should not be used as much in FY20 compared to FY19.
2) part-time wages of Custodial Services / Housekeeping were increased to accommodate a part-time helper to assist with additional facilities.
3) staff level of Health was reduced by two positions during 2018.
4) all personnel will receive a salary increase of $1,000 or more; staff with salaries of more than $50,000 will receive a 2% increase (in effect, staff with salaries of less than $50,000 will receive an increase of $1,000, which is more than 2%).
5) retirement payments will rise and are projected to continue to rise over the next few years by 120 basis points per year.
6) fortunately, under the State Health Plan, increases in premiums have been much less than we experienced before participating in the State Health Plan; we expect to pay another $250 per year per person in FY20 compared to FY19.

VEHICLE ** UPDATE **
-Only one non-Sheriff vehicle is budgeted for purchase in FY20 (does not include Utilities). This vehicle will be to replace the vehicle used by Joseph Huntley with Soil & Water Conservation District Office.

EDUCATION ** UPDATE **
-MCS will receive a $50,000 increase to support salary supplements for teachers.
-MCC will receive a $8,000 increase to support salary increases for maintenance staff (which are not covered by State allocations since buildings are a local responsibility); MCC will also receive support from the County’s funds for the high school and CTE project for additional teachers and professors that will be hired over the next year (FY20) and its expected that the State will support these additional teachers in FY21.
-the County continues to set aside amounts received in sales tax proceeds from the extra 0.25% in sales taxes for the benefit of educational facilities and both MCS and MCC are using these funds to make needed facility improvements

ALLOCATIONS ** UPDATE **
-the one-time allocation of $10,000 to Family Crisis Center has been removed. You may have seen an article in the local paper regarding the closing of their Troy office.
-some other allocations changed, including one to NC Forestry (from $102,500 in FY19 to $105,000 in FY20).
-the allocation to the Montgomery County Council on Aging will be removed as the County applies to receive HCCBG funding directly and plans to oversee the grant-funded programs formerly overseen by the Montgomery County Council on Aging, such as in-home aide, congregate nutrition, and meals on wheels.
-the County does plan to help locate and construct a new food pantry for the Council on Aging as it re-focuses its efforts on feeding the hungry of our County.

CONTRACTS ** UPDATE **
-the contract to FirstHealth for EMS services will increase to an amount above $1.575 million. Robbie Smith has been collecting information and making analyses to determine whether the County might be better off to bring EMS services back as an employee-based department versus the contract with FirstHealth. For instance, Anson County is about our size in population and experiences net expenditures (after revenues) of less than $1 million. The annual contract ends in August of each year and I suspect it will be at least one more year before we decide whether to make that transition.
-other services with an increasing budget include landfill services, medical examiner, and auditors.

OTHER PROJECTS ** UPDATE **
-the County continues to make preparations for a required revaluation of property values as of January 1, 2020, which will affect property tax bills sent in July/August 2020.
-the County continues to seek input from fire chiefs and others to meet the needs of VFDs without raising property taxes and the groups are working on a cooperative long-range plan to help meet the challenges of lower volunteerism, higher training requirements, and replacement of equipment, firetrucks, and buildings.

This is public information, so feel free to share this information with any inquiring minds. And, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about any of these matters.

CONTACT ME
I am available for one on one discussion and will gladly assist you in any way necessary. We appreciate your time and cooperation with the budgeting process.

This message via email serves to minimize any disruption to your busy day. Please respond as you prefer. I am in my office and near the phone almost constantly on most workdays, should you prefer to visit or call.

Please feel free to contact me if you should need more information or have any related comments, concerns, issues, questions, suggestions or thoughts to share. Thank you!

Best regards,
CD Crepps, chris.crepps@montgomerycountync.com
OFC: 910-576-4221, ext 1303 // FAX: 910-576-4566