Nash County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robbie Davis told Rotarians at a recent weekly luncheon of the Rocky Mount Rotary Club that if anyone says he and fellow commissioners are not properly funding public safety, then he has the following reply: “It’s not quite true.”
Davis said if the newly approved county budget is not adequately funding fire services, emergency medical services, the sheriff's office and emergency management, then he does not really know what else to do.
“We are totally funding public safety,” Davis said. “We funded it in a big way — and we matched what the rates are in our area. And I hope our people are happy with where we are.”
Davis said that just to provide one with an example in public safety, the yearly pay for a starting county sheriff's deputy went up 19.5 percent to $54,894.
Davis was speaking Tuesday at the Benvenue Country Club about the county's 2024-25 fiscal year operating budget, which is set at nearly $143 million compared to nearly $134.6 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year, which ended June 30.
Nearly $37.9 million of county funds has been budgeted for public safety in the current fiscal year.
Among the rest of the appropriations, human services received more than $31.6 million, while public education received nearly $28 million and general government serves received more than $12.7 million.
Also, economic and physical development received more than $3 million and cultural and recreation services received nearly $2.7 million.
The commissioners adopted the budget on a 6-1 vote, with Commissioner Sue Leggett casting the lone no vote.
Davis, who is a Rotarian, told fellow club members and their guests Tuesday that in the 22 years he has served on the board, this budget year presented many challenges.
“I do think this is the toughest budget season that we have had,” Davis said, adding, “It was a controversial time — and a lot of it had to do with salaries, quite frankly.”
Another source of difficulty with approving a budget was brought on by the fact that the countywide revaluation of property took place this year.
Property revaluations typically occur every eight years, and are required by North Carolina law, but Nash County had to do a revaluation after seven years because property values had increased so much.
Davis said that the county unsuccessfully appealed the state’s directive for the early revaluation.
During a slideshow-like presentation, Davis showed that after the revaluation and appeals, the assessed value of property in the county totaled nearly $11 billion.
The total estimated tax base increase is nearly 29 percent compared to the last revaluation in 2017.
Davis said that he and his fellow commissioners had long kept the property tax rate at 67 cents per $100 in valuation.
Davis also made clear that something he personally has always worked for in the county is to keep the rate as low as can be kept.
The current budget specifies a tax rate of 63 cents per $100 in valuation, which Davis noted was higher than what he wanted.
He said that a lot of the increased spending in the budget was driven by pay increases for county employees and by additional costs for child protective services at the county’s Department of Social Services.
“But we were at a point that we really had to do something in public safety because we had just gotten out of the market rates that were going on throughout the state,” he said.
Commissioners in recent years brought in a consultant to conduct a study of the pay of all county employees.
Commissioners also brought in a consultant to study the pay of the public safety employees. The outcome of that study is implemented in the current budget, Davis said.
According to information from the county government, the budget has an additional $3.4 million for public safety employees, both in salaries and benefits.
Additionally, the current budget allocated a 5 percent cost-of-living increase for all county employees.
Davis told the Rocky Mount Rotarians that over the past seven years, county employees have received either a 3 percent or a 5 percent cost of living increase annually.
Davis emphasized that amounts to a total of a 29 percent cost of living increase over that seven-year period.
“And that’s something I think our employees have really appreciated,” Davis said. “They know we’re doing what we can do.”
Davis also said that the current budget includes a nearly 9.8 percent increase for the Department of Social Services and child protective services to try to get the number of staff needed as well as getting the right people in place to do the job needed.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services took over the county’s child protectives services for about half a year in connection with the deaths of two children who should have been under the care of the county's Department of Social Services.
Davis also told the Rocky Mount Rotarians that Nash Community College received an 8 percent increase in funding from the county.
Davis also said that while this was not part of the presentation, the county funded Nash County Public Schools at the same rate as in the 2023-24 fiscal year, with the reason being that the county does not yet know what the state is going to yet do regarding funding for public education.
Davis also said that commissioners are not yet sure about how the demerger from Edgecombe County Public Schools is going to affect revenue for Nash County Public Schools.
Prior to the demerger, students living on the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount attended public schools in what was then the Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools system.
Davis made clear that this was not a matter of underfunding Nash County Public Schools.
“They do have quite a few less children this year than they had before,” Davis said, noting that means there is more money per student in the system.
“But it’s just a little bit early for us to really know how all that’s going to shake out,” Davis said. “So, we will be revisiting that.”
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