Tax hike possible for Wayne County
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 2, 2018 8:58 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Commission Chairman Bill Pate, right, Tuesday said the board could be faced with raising the property tax rate by 3 cents this year. At left is Commissioner Joe Gurley.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Wayne County Commissioner Wayne Aycock studies a synopsis of the county's proposed capital improvement plan.
Wayne County taxpayers should brace for what could be up to a 3-cent increase in their property taxes July 1.
A 3-cent hike would increase the tax rate from the current 66.35 cents to 69.35 cents per $100 worth of property value.
One cent on the tax rate generates about $800,000.
However, no decision has been made on what, if any, increase Wayne County commissioners could be asked to approve.
The phrases "lean year," and "tight year" were repeated several times by commissioners Tuesday afternoon as they took a microscopic look at possible reductions in proposed capital improvement costs for fiscal year 2018-19.
The tax increase is needed because of the loss of $2 million in state school low-wealth funding and to shoulder the anticipated $500,000 to cover the cost of expanding the school resource officer program.
Exacerbating the issue is a slowdown in sales tax and vehicle tax revenues, Commission Chairman Bill Pate said.
"That is why we were so tough up there today, maybe where we haven't been the last couple of years," Pate said. "A few dollars here, and a few dollars there are going to make a big difference in the budget.
"We have been tightening up our budget over the past few years anyway. We don't have a lot of extra cushion."
Since 2012, the board has lowered the tax rate from almost 72 cents to the current rate, Pate said.
"We are not going down this year for sure," he said. "But we are not going to jack it way back up. We don't want to hurt everybody all at one time."
The county's fund balance is fine, but commissioners do not want to dig into it very much because of uncertainty surrounding the state's classroom size reduction mandate, he said.
That will be phased in over the next three years, but a lot remains unknown as to how that will play out, Pate said.
"So we are being very cautious," he said. "But as I indicated, this may require a small tax increase."
Low-wealth funding
The county will lose the nearly $2 million annually in state-allocated low-wealth funding because its tax rate does not meet the threshold to receive it.
Local legislators were able to get the $2 million for 2017-18 into the current state budget.
However, they could not secure the funding for 2018-19, which means the county will have to absorb a $2 million annual shortfall starting next year.
Commissioners are championing a long-term fix by trying to convince the General Assembly to change wording in state law that exempts counties with military bases and a student population of at least 23,000 from the low-wealth formula.
Currently that applies only to Cumberland County, home of Fort Bragg, and Onslow County, home of Camp Lejeune.
Pate said he has been talking about the possibility of an increase for some time so that the public would not be surprised if one is needed.
The county does not have to make up the $2 million in low-wealth funding, Pate said.
"But we don't want to leave them without the dollars so we are trying to do everything that we can to find a way to make it work," he said.
Pate, Commissioner Joe Gurley and County Manager Craig Honeycutt are going to Raleigh today to meet with Rep. John Bell and other legislators about the low-wealth funding.
Having that $2 million restored would relieve a lot of pressure on the budget and tax rate, Pate
"I don't have a whole lot of hope, but we are going," Pate said. "I think it its worth a trip up there to talk. I don't mind asking, that is for sure.
Commissioners' goal is to reduce the student population threshold to 17,000 students instead of 23,000 so that Wayne County also would be exempt from the low-wealth formula.
School Resource Officers
Also, in March, Sheriff Larry Pierce stepped up the number of school resource officers in direct response to the shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.
But at the same time, Pierce said the changes have been a long time coming.
"But we have got to fund the SROs," Pate said. "That is a given."