Robbinsville – Graham County commissioners face an onslaught of community needs and pressures as they attempt to craft a spending plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year that doesn’t increase taxes or require new service fees.
Commissioners have been meeting Friday mornings with more meetings scheduled for June 3 and June 10 – all at 9 a.m.
Within local government itself, the Board of Commissioners is looking at $1.167 million in new costs ranging from $35,000 more from the Graham County Library (included in a total request of $124,341) to a health insurance increase for county employees of $250,000.
County departments are looking for $325,000 in additional funding, not counting Graham County Schools, which is asked for $1.5 million – up from $1 million last year – to balance its budget and $100,000 more for school capital projects.
The draft budget also includes an increase from $50,000 to $100,000 for legal fees as the county finds itself embroiled in lawsuits filed by personnel and former personnel, as well as the medical provider that leases a building from the county.
The requests don’t stop there:
* Industrial Opportunities, which provides vocational services for Graham County, is asking for $13,000;
* Grace Place, a food bank and soup kitchen that accounts for about 90 percent of the county’s food service for the needy, is asking for $18,000;
* The N.C. Department of Public Safety is asking the county for $134,503 to pay its share of Community Programs costs;
* The Graham County Cancer Support Group, which provided more than $19,000 to local people battling cancer in 2021, is asking for $5,000;
* The Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center, which provides after school programs, is asking for $20,000.
Spiking inflation accounts for a lot of the increases.
County Finance Officer Becky Garland included $210,000 in a draft budget just to cover inflationary impacts. Much of what Graham County Schools is asking for is inflation-related.
“Some of those numbers you’ve given me are a little alarming,” said Connie Orr, chairman of the Board of Commissioners.
“Some of these amounts are ridiculous what they’re wanting,” Commissioner Lynn Cody said.
At the same time, commissioners are being asked to decide whether another 3 percent cost of living adjustment for county employees is enough to help them get through these inflationary times.
“I’m concerned about employees making less than $14 an hour,” Garland told the board on May 20. “They’re paying the same gas prices as upper management.”
About 40 percent of Graham County government’s workforce makes $14 per hour or less, essentially “destitute in today’s economy,” Orr said.
The county is facing a severe increase in the cost of health insurance for its employees – as much as 38 percent if efforts to reduce it fail. The increase last year from the previous year was just 2 percent.
“Health insurance will have a huge impact,” Garland said.
Public safety
Plans for a justice center that would combine the sheriff’s headquarters, jail, and courthouse into one complex off West Fort Hill Road can’t be pinned to a specific price tag and instead is looked at as a cost range – $15 million on the low side to $24 million and counting.
“Construction costs are hard to know,” County Manager Jason Marino said. “They change every 30 days.”
The fleet of fire engines in Graham County is old and increasingly in disrepair, with many trucks between 20 and 30 years old.
In law enforcement, Sheriff Jerry Crisp told commissioners that the state is demanding that he reduce the head count at the county jail to the actual number of beds — eight, and no female inmates at all. The jail regularly houses more than double that amount; the head count on May 20 was 23 inmates.
“We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” Crisp told the board. “I can’t stop arresting people. If they can’t make bond, I have no choice but to house them without a court order.”
Crisp said the jail is at risk of being subjected to a state fine, court ordered restricted head count, or even getting closed down due to overcrowding. If that happens, Crisp said he would have no choice but to turn county jail inmates out on the street.
For his part, Crisp plans to cut personnel costs by switching deputies of the rank of lieutenant and above to salary to save on overtime costs.
Schools
Graham County Schools have been operating on the margins for some time.
An audit released earlier this year was summarized when the auditor said Graham County Schools are operating paycheck to paycheck and needed an extra $100,000 per year on top of the $1 million it already gets from the county.
“We have an obligation to make sure they stay healthy,” Garland said, referring to Graham County Schools.
“They’ve been doing everything we asked them to – to a fault,” Garland said. “We don’t want them to go into the hole.”
Graham County Schools enjoyed unusually generous funding from the state this year, but that funding comes with strings attached. It will be raising employee pay so that workers don’t get paid less than $14 an hour, but local schools will have to pay for higher retirement and benefits costs.
Bright side
With hard times comes opportunities.
Graham County will be receiving $1.18 million over time from a settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors. It will be receiving $902,000 in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for COVID-19 recovery. It is waiting on word about whether it received a $500,000 grant from Dogwood Health Trust.
The county can combine that money for new or expanded programs that will have a significant impact on local problems ranging from poverty and drug addiction (“the greatest pandemic people aren’t talking about,” Garland said), to broadband internet and economic development.
“It’s kind of like taking quarters and turning them into dollars,” Garland said.
The question is, how all that money will be spent. American Rescue Plan Act funds can be used for premium pay for essential workers, for example, but it can also be used to pay for parks and museums, two things Graham County doesn’t have.
“The needs are critical in our county,” Orr said. “Premium pay may last a month, but a park could last a lifetime.”