2021-2022 Budget Message - RUTHERFORD COUNTY, NC STEVE GARRISON, COUNTY MANAGER 2022
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2022 2021-2022 Budget Message RUTHERFORD COUNTY, NC STEVE GARRISON, COUNTY MANAGER WWW.RUTHERFORDCOUNTYNC.GOV | 289 N. Main Street, Rutherfordton, NC 28139
May 3, 2021 Dear Commissioners: Please find attached the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2022 (FY2021-22). Attached are Budget Issues and Budget Worksheets. All funds in the FY2021-22 budget are balanced. No operating expense or debt services expenses are funded using Fund Balance from the General Fund. A property tax rate of 59.70 cents per $100 valuation is recommended. As stewards of the public’s money, we are facing the challenges (and opportunities) of making sound investments that improve our economic wellbeing, providing core services that improve the quality of life for the citizens we serve and maintaining our facilities, equipment, vehicles and properties. The FY2021-22 budget was created centered around the vision, strategic objectives and core values defined in our mission statement, which is “To foster and sustain thriving communities and improve the quality of the lives of our citizens, we will maintain public trust, cultivate strategic partnerships and create opportunities to inspire excellence through strategic decision making and sound management.” The COVID-19 pandemic created unique challenges in 2020 and we anticipate the pandemic will continue to create lingering effects as we begin the FY2021-2022 budget cycle. Rutherford County employees and our leadership teams have demonstrated an ability to persevere and weather this storm, for which I am very appreciative and proud to be included among their ranks. I would like to publicly acknowledge my great respect and appreciation to the Rutherford County Department Heads and our Administrative Team here at the Administration Building as we navigated through this complex budget process. Permit me to specifically acknowledge the contributions of Planning & Public Works Director Danny Searcy, IT Director Jai Doherty and HR Director Debra Conner and their teams as they expended additional time and resources pulling together information, data and numbers from each of the County Departments to include in our Capital Facility Plan, IT Hardware/Software Plan and the departmental human resource requests. On top of managing FEMA COVID-19 funds, Coronavirus Relief Funds, a Housing Finance grant, Community Development Block Grants, Department of Justice grants and many other grants while attending the School of Government Municipal and County Administration classes on-line and performing her typical day-to- day finance functions, Finance Director Paula Roach has somehow been able to carve out time to play a major role in the creation of the FY2021-2022 budget message. She is very deserving of commendations. In the end, the recommendations contained herein are those of the County Manager. I appreciate the opportunity to serve the Board of Commissioners and the citizens of Rutherford County. I look forward to working with the Board to review these recommendations and adopt a budget ordinance for FY2021-22. Sincerely, Steven W. Garrison County Manager Copies of the recommended budget will be available in the Clerk to the Board's office and the County Libraries for public review. Individuals desiring a personal copy may download a copy from the County Website, www.rutherfordcountync.gov.
The Members of the Rutherford County
Board of County Commissioners
The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 is presented for your consideration. This budget is based
on a property tax rate of 59.7 cents per $100 valuation that yields a budget that is within 1.966% of last
year’s adopted budget. This budget message is divided into several sections:
Budget Issues page 3
Budget Trends page 6
General Fund Balance page 7
County Debt Service page 8
General Property Tax Rate page 8
Tax Collection page 8
Other Property Taxes page 9
Sales Tax Revenue page 11
Other Revenues page 12
K-12 Education and Isothermal Community College page 12
Special Appropriations and Other Expenditures page 13
Health Department page 13
Emergency Medical Service page 14
Salary Adjustment page 14
Position Changes page 14
Retirements page 15
Benefit Changes page 15
9-1-1 Funds page 15
Grant Funds page 15
Transit Fund page 16
Solid Waste page 16
Summary of Recommended Budget for All Funds page 18
Appendix A County 10 Year Trend page 19
Appendix B Fund Balance 10 Year Trend page 20
Appendix C Article 46 Sales Tax Trend page 21
Appendix D School Capital Account page 22
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 2
Budget Issues
The FY2021-2022 budget was created to ensure that the County can continue to provide core and
mandated services, support education and still make investments in economic development and
quality of life projects. Rutherford County remains in good financial condition but continues to feel the
effects of the economic recession and remains a NC Commerce Tier I economically distressed county
and an Appalachian Regional Commission economically at-risk county. Prior to the COVID-19
pandemic event, the unemployment rate in Rutherford County continued to slowly decrease.
However, the unemployment rate in February of 2021 (7.4%) is higher as compared to February of
2020 (4.9%) and is higher than the state and regional averages.
Based on information available in the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners 2020
County Map Book, Rutherford County ranks 35th in NC on average property value ($114,393), 9th
lowest in average income per capita ($32,764), 18% of our residents were recipients of the federally-
funded Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) program (ranked 29th in NC), 28% of our children live in
poverty (ranked 29th in NC), our food insecurity rate is 16% (36th in NC), and our rate of uninsured
residents is 14% (ranked 35th in NC), which continues to demonstrate that while many of the
metropolitan service areas centered around North Carolina’s larger urban areas are experiencing
significant growth in their revenues, the rural counties such as Rutherford County still lag behind and
are not experiencing the same level of economic recovery.
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 3
It is clear that the economic repression created by the COVID-19 pandemic has created a growing
uncertainty around what our economic recovery will look like and how a phased lifting of mitigation
efforts and restrictions may influence consumer behavior as we transition into a new budget year. Two
challenges, among many others, going forward will be cash flow and balancing the budget as required
amid much uncertainty. The crafting of the FY2021-2022 budget takes into consideration the following
impacts:
• An increase in Sales Tax collections and restoration of debt service sales tax set asides. For the
FY2020-2021 budget, we were projecting a loss of 10% of our sales tax revenue spread out over the
12 months of the budget year. However, sales tax has fortunately grown despite COVID-19
influences, so this budget proposes a conservative growth of 3% sales tax collections.
• A higher unemployment rate, higher poverty rate and a higher demand on health and human
services.
The FY2021-2022 proposed budget (General Fund, including DSS) is $70,460,185, an increase of
1.966%. The primary increases consist of the following: continued employee benefit costs and critical
information technology and building needs for the County. The FY2021-2022 funding request from RCS
exceeds the current fiscal year local county funds allocation by $5.99 million (37.01%). Fortunately,
due to significant federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
Fund (ESSER), it is anticipated that many of the challenges the Rutherford County School System (RCS)
has faced in recent years can be managed without a significant operating request to the County.
However, the use of these funds will be limited and will expire in 2024. Challenges faced in recent
years include decreased Average Daily Membership funding from the State, special education funding
shortfall, escalating personnel costs, increase in critical capital outlay needs and technology. The state
mandated special education programming remains capped at 12.75% of total student population (RCS
is currently serving 18.1% of their student population through this programming). The FY2021-2022
funding request from ICC operations of $2,604,327 exceeds the current fiscal year allocation of local
county funds by 2.97%. ICC also requests $2.2M in capital, which includes the renovation for the
learning center/library for just over $2 million dollars. This renovation project is sited by ICC
representatives as their top priority. ICC anticipates that they will experience an increase in
facility/grounds maintenance, utilities and staffing costs during FY2021-2022.
Net property valuation is up 0.726% from FY2020-21 to $7.867 billion. For Ad Valorem taxes, we
are required to use a rate not to exceed the previous year’s tax collection rate instead of the
current projected collection rate, which for FY2021-2022 will be 97.92%. This is a favorable
increase over the collection rate used for the current year budget of 97.53%, but lower than the
FY2018-2019 tax collection rate of 98.04%, which we will continue to monitor going forward.
Most County department budgets have moderate increases due to rising benefit costs primarily due to the
required retirement rate contributions. The County Planning and Public Works Department has identified in
excess of $5,565,248 in critical/urgent repair and renovation needs for county facilities and properties. This
budget proposes expending $500,523. The Information Technology Department has identified $379,916 in
critical/urgent needs for FY2021-22 across all departments. This budget proposes expending $100,416.
Other budget impacts for FY2021-22 include an increase of the budget contribution from Rutherford and
McDowell counties contributing to the regional Foothills Health District (an increase of $108,671 or 15% for
Rutherford County) and an increase in the County’s Isothermal Planning Development Commission (IPDC)
dues and RPO fees of $281. This budget proposal continues implementation of Pictometry, Spatialist and
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 4
Corelogic technology for the Revenue Department, which will help to make our next property revaluation
process easier to manage, less costly and will enhance service delivery for the public, realtors, attorneys, etc.
by offering them enhanced tools as they perform property/parcel searches. The total cost for Pictometry
over six years is $147,044 ($40,988 every two years). Additional funds have also been recommended for
reappraisal assistance services for the upcoming 2023 reappraisal project.
County funds are distributed categorically as demonstrated on the following pie chart.
The top three are Education at 27.54%, Public Safety at 23.72% and Human Services at 22.35%. The
Human Services number is a bit misleading, however, as approximately 65.2% of the tax dollars used to
support Human Services is reimbursed through State, Federal and grant sources leaving approximately
34.8% to be covered by county dollars.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 5
The county continues to cover the gap in funds available for capital facility debt service for education.
This is primarily due to the legislative reduction in lottery funds, the recession-based reduction in sales
tax contributions, which directly impacts Articles 40 & 42, and the legislative elimination of the ADM
Corporate Sales Tax. As a result of the 2019 NC Needs Based School Capital Fund (NC NBSCF) Lottery
Grant received for the construction of RS Middle School, the County will not receive the annual lottery
distributions for five years. The County also utilizes $1.4M of the new quarter cent sales tax to help
fund critical school capital and debt service. If we add in the portion of county funds used to
supplement the school construction debt service, approximately $1,530,580, education (RCS and ICC)
makes up approximately 33.44% of the appropriated county funds. With an anticipated downturn due
to the impacts of COVID-19 to our state and local economy, sales tax set aside to the debt service fund
was reduced by 10% from the annual planned amounts in FY2020-21. Fortunately, the County has seen
an increase in sales tax during this fiscal year, so the reductions are proposed to be restored this fiscal
year and planned amounts for the upcoming year have not been reduced. The funds in the debt service
fund are critical for the County to be able to move forward with much of the critical County, court
system and education critical facility needs.
Budget Trends
Attached please find Appendix A which shows the changes in revenue expenditures and fund balances
over the last ten years.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 6
General Fund Balance
The County began FY2020-21 with $22,721,302 in unassigned General Fund balance. During the
current fiscal year, the County budgeted $1.84 million of fund balance. Below are major uses of fund
balance:
• $400,000 of fund balance was appropriated with the original FY2020-21 budget
• $1,440,698 of approved projects or restricted funds such as donations from the prior year
that were carried forward.
Through diligent review of expenditures and conservative spending by our departments and higher
than anticipated sales tax and ad valorem tax collections, it is anticipated that the County’s fund
balance will be reduced by approximately $550,000 instead of the budgeted $1.84 million budgeted
during FY2020-2021 due to the capital facility and equipment needs completed this fiscal year.
The proposed FY2021-2022 fund balance available for appropriation is estimated to be 35.21%, which
is lower than the range for North Carolina counties having the population of Rutherford County
(35.72%) and slightly above the informal management goal of 20%. Also, it exceeds the minimal 8%
recommended by the Local Government Commission. Last year’s original budget did include an
appropriation of fund balance due to the anticipated reduction of sales tax due to the economic
impact of COVID 19. However, the proposed FY2021-2022 budget does not include an appropriation
of Fund Balance from the General Fund (with the exception of carry-over projects reflected in this
budget proposal). Appendix B shows the Fund Balances of the General Fund and other Governmental
Funds over the last ten years.
It is imperative that the County retain optimal levels on the Fund Balance of the General Fund. The
County assumes the capital outlay debt service financing for the County, RCS, ICC and the court
system. RCS and ICC cannot secure debt service financing for capital building and facility projects and
the state requires the County to provide facilities and infrastructure for the North Carolina justice
system staff (i.e. Clerk of Court, District Attorney, Public Defenders, Probation and Parole and Juvenile
Justice offices). Reducing our Fund Balance creates high risk during the lean economic years when
these funds are needed to maintain our joint operational expenses, capital expenses and debt service.
The County maintains a good credit rating due to the management of our budget and Fund Balance,
which is needed to maximize our financing opportunities and to secure competitive bids on capital
projects. Currently, the total county facilities debt outstanding is $34.7 million (County - $2,978,314,
RCS - $26,506,821, ICC - $4,239,565, water/sewer infrastructure - $950,375) and the total debt service
set aside for FY2020-2021 is recommended at $8,118,932. This reinforces the County’s position that it
is critical that we retain optimal levels on the Fund Balance of the General Fund to withstand economic
downturns such as those currently faced.
Each year, the County “carries forward” certain grants and other projects incomplete as of fiscal year
end. The multi-year projects/carry-forward items will be amended in the FY2020-21 budget after July 1
with their June 30th balances. Examples include NC Department of Commerce Industrial Development
and Building Reuse Grants, capital projects (including water and sewer projects), other multi-year
projects such as Queens Gap Infrastructure and remaining proceeds of the Vehicle Replacement fund
for items not yet delivered.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 7
County Debt Service
Rutherford County debt obligations are shown below.
Source: Rutherford County Annual Report, June 30, 2020
General Property Tax Rate
The Property Tax Rate is recommended to remain 59.70 cents per $100 valuation.
Tax Collection
As of June 30, 2020, the County audit reflected a collection rate of 97.92%, slightly lower than 98.04%
as of 2019, of real estate property tax levy. The State average is 99.07%, which is the short-term target
for the Revenue Department. Each percentage of unpaid delinquency is equal to $469,668 in FY2021-
22.
By State law [GS 149-113(b)(6)] the County may only budget property tax revenues based upon the
prior fiscal tax collection. Even though the FY2020-21 levy is $46.967 million, the FY2019-20 tax
collection rate of 97.92% is the maximum allowed rate to be used for budget purposes. Therefore, the
property tax revenues are only budgeted at $45,989,892.
We are currently projecting a June 30, 2021 collection rate of approximately 98.0%. As of April 26,
2021, the real estate property tax collection rate was 97.03%.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 8
Source: Rutherford County Annual Report, June 30, 2020
Other Property Taxes
Based upon budget submissions by the County Service Districts, the rates for Fire Protection, Sanitary
and Water are shown for each district. In 2015-16, a tax levy was created, and a tax was set up to
cover Broad River Water Authority’s annual maintenance cost projections needed for the Queens Gap
development water system due to the minimal usage volumes anticipated until the project is further
developed. As the system has taken longer to construct than originally projected, it is recommended
that the Commissioners continue to zero out the Queens Gap Water District tax rate going forward.
We will revisit this in the future once the roads have been constructed, the foreclosed properties
begin to sell, and the new Water District is operational.
Tax
Rate
Needed
FY20-21 to Fund
County Service District - FY 21-22 Assessed Budget FY20-21 FY 21-22 FY21-22
Fire Service Value Amount Tax Rate Budget Request Budget
Bill's Creek $ 327,070,313 $ 284,615 0.070 $ 292,068 0.070
Bostic $ 150,960,529 $ 130,818 0.060 $ 111,703 0.060
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 9Broad River $ 3,574,470 $ 6,997 0.160 $ 7,093 0.160
Cherry Mountain $ 211,996,268 $ 289,119 0.110 $ 316,443 0.120
Chimney Rock $ 59,366,806 $ 36,336 0.050 $ 42,184 0.060
Cliffside $ 538,423,176 $ 442,290 0.080 $ 559,427 0.080
Edneyville $ 1,809,748 $ 4,875 0.115 $ 2,595 0.115
Ellenboro $ 381,473,347 $ 400,540 0.080 $ 400,571 0.085
Fairfield $ 14,568,485 $ 21,097 0.100 $ 21,034 0.100
Forest City $ 10,721,868 $ 10,865 0.080 $ 10,595 0.080
Green Hill $ 243,630,225 $ 219,563 0.070 $ 213,812 0.070
Hudlow $ 339,777,586 $ 414,897 0.100 $ 427,493 0.100
Lake Lure $ 8,260,266 $ 8,593 0.090 $ 10,076 0.110
Outside Response Area $ 183,652,579 $ 172,637 0.045 $ 173,204 0.045
Polkville $ 41,605,117 $ 41,971 0.080 $ 41,320 0.080
Rutherfordton $ 275,473,966 $ 382,458 0.110 $ 380,647 0.110
Sandy Mush $ 304,185,802 $ 392,973 0.080 $ 375,055 0.100
Shiloh Danieltown Oakland $ 532,665,643 $ 407,087 0.060 $ 457,691 0.070
Shingle Hollow $ 123,150,136 $ 200,694 0.120 $ 180,144 0.120
Spindale $ 14,242,263 $ 13,093 0.080 $ 14,589 0.080
Union Mills $ 171,517,889 $ 109,786 0.050 $ 109,321 0.050
Cliffside Sanitary Service $ 7,728,398 $ 7,680 0.080 * *
*Will be provided by LGC
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 10Sales Tax Revenues
The current economic conditions have made forecasting sales tax for next fiscal year as well as the
current quarter extremely unpredictable. Fortunately, sales tax has been much better than projected
last year when it was anticipated that we would experience a 20% loss over a six-month period due to
COVID-19. For the upcoming year, an increase of 3% over the FY2019-20 Actual has been projected.
Sales Tax Projection as of April 15, 2021
BUDGET Actual/Projected 2020- 2021 RECOMMENDED
2020-2021 2020-2021 VARIANCE (Budget/Actual) 2021-2022
Article 39 $ 5,441,490 $ 6,726,362 $1,284,872 23.6% $6,234,246
Article 40 3,535,885 4,295,654 759,769 21.5% 4,143,140
Article 42 2,656,106 3,277,810 621,704 23.4% 3,034,083
Mun H.H. 42 (102,002) (124,873) (22,871) 22.4% (141,290)
Mun H.H. 39 (763,314) (962,090) (198,776) 26.0% (952,119)
Total $10,768,165 $13,212,863 $ 2,444,698 22.70% $12,318,059
Last year due to anticipated shortfalls, there were recommended reductions to the sales tax set asides
for debt service. However, due to distributions which have outpaced prior recent year, it is now
recommended to restore these set asides for the current year. Continued reductions to this set aside
significantly effects the county’s ability to move forward on several critical projects.
Effective October 1, 2018, Rutherford County began collecting the Article 46 sales tax following the
successful referendum in May 2018. These proceeds will be used for education-related capital facility
needs. For the upcoming year, it is expected these proceeds will be $1.75 million. The
recommendation is to transfer $350,000 to the College Capital Fund (for a total of $550,000 when
combined with their other allocations) to address their identified critical capital facility needs including
their library/learning center renovation project and the remaining $1.4 million to be set aside for
school debt service including the current RS Middle School project. Additional information on Article
46 is presented in Appendix C.
Based upon prior Board policy, the School Capital Account portion of the Debt Service Fund is expected
to have a balance of $2,999,300 at the end of FY2021-22 as presented in Appendix D.
The County must pay the current debt service for school capital facilities regardless of the availability
of lottery funds or the appropriation of Article 40 and Article 42 Sales Tax funds. Revenues from these
funds are not sufficient to cover this expenditure, which requires the County to supplement with
additional non-education related Sales Tax revenues. Debt service is shown as contra accounts within
multiple sales tax revenue accounts within the General Fund Budget. The Sales Tax allocated to the
Schools is recorded as revenues in the Debt Service Fund. Currently, the amount of county funds
appropriated to school system debt service is $1,530,580 above the available funds from the school
systems lottery allocation and their appropriation of Article 40 and Article 42 funds.
Education Lottery proceeds have not been budgeted for FY2021-2022. As a result of the NC NBSCF
Lottery Grant received in November 2019 for RS Middle School Construction, the County will not
receive lottery funds for five years. The County received the maximum award of $15M for the project.
Completion of the new school is anticipated in January of 2022. In 2013, the State Legislature deleted
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 11the statutory formula of Education Lottery revenues for school capital construction. The amount
remained the same in FY2013-14 as the prior year, but state school construction funds are now subject
to the appropriations process without statutory protection. All Education Lottery proceeds received by
Rutherford County shown in the Debt Service Fund are pledged to pay school debt. If Education
Lottery proceeds decrease, as has been proposed in prior Legislative sessions, then General Fund
transfers to the Debt Service Fund will need to increase. The Board of County Commissioners has
approved resolutions in 2016 and 2017 advocating that the North Carolina Legislators reinstate the
county allocations of lottery funds for school capital facility needs as originally designed.
NOTE: Any reduction by the General Assembly in Education Lottery Funds allocation will require an increase in County
General Fund expense to pay school debt. The General Assembly now allocates $100 million of the expected $268+ million in
Education Lottery Funds that would otherwise be going to statewide school capital construction. If the statutory Education
Lottery had been in place this year, Rutherford County would have received approximately $1,500,800 annually for school
facilities rather than $550,000.
Other Revenues
We continue to see a rise in our Building Inspections revenue as new home construction and home
improvements continue to pick up and have seen increases in Register of Deeds revenues. All other
revenues are remaining flat. However, revenues generated by these departments are not sufficient to
cover their expenditures to operate them as enterprise funds and County General Funds are used to
supplement their budgets.
K-12 Education and Isothermal Community College
In FY2016-2017, increased allocations for the schools and the college were primarily funded by the new
sales tax distribution as a result of the NC 2015-17 budget bill (Session Law 2015-241). This article 44
sales tax distribution (GS 105-524) is projected to be $1,376,460 for Rutherford County for FY2021-
2022. These additional proceeds distributed to the County are restricted to be used for only education
or economic development purposes. ICC capital set aside funds were increased to an annual allocation
of $200,000 in FY2016-2017 utilizing a portion of these funds. The remaining article 44 sales tax is
allocated to the school’s current expense and capital needs.
The current expense allocation to the schools also includes $285,404 for the School Resource Officers
(SROs) (portion previously direct funded by the County). Beginning July 2016, the county began
allocating funds to the schools for the SROs and RCS, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy and Lake Lure
Classical Academy were to be billed for 100% of the cost of the SROs stationed at their respective
schools. The Rutherford County School System and Isothermal Community College made presentations
to the County Commissioners on April 19th.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 12EDUCATION FUNDING
FY18-19 FY19-20 FY20-21 FY21-22 FY21-22
Approved Approved Approved Requested Recommended
County Depts. $38,240,802 $40,209,789 $41,247,869 46,917,388 42,250,442
excluding
Schools/College
Public Schools 14,268,004 15,263,251 15,415,884 15,724,201 15,810,376
Current Expense
Schools 1,096,163 1,098,654 794,719 6,485,647 1,000,000
Capital Outlay
Isothermal 2,341,601 2,504,225 2,529,267 2,604,327 2,593,991
Community
College (ICC)
ICC 200,000 500,000 500,000 2,695,100 550,000
Capital Outlay
Economic 6,351,935 8,400,201 7,714,076 7,016,857 7,016,857
Development
Incentives
Internal Service 590,000
Fund - SAN
Other 1,289,762 1,313,604 1,399,952 5,118,366 1,788,519
Total $63,788,267 $70,022,828 $69,601,767 $86,561,886 71,010,185
Special Appropriations and Other Expenditures
The County received requests from several new non-profit agencies requesting consideration for
funding for FY2021-22. Although we recognize these agencies as good community partners who
provide critical services to our citizens, the recommended budget includes most of the previous year
non-profit funding recipients and two new recipients, Kidsenses Museum and PAWS (Pets Are Worth
Saving) of Rutherford County, which provides support services for the County Animal Control center
such as spay/neuter and vetting services costs.
Foothills Health District
The Foothills Health District received the final contribution of $56,014 in FY2015-16 of a three-year
planned increase approved by the three counties making up Rutherford-Polk-McDowell Health
District. The operational expenditures for the Foothills Health District continue to outpace the
revenues for this agency and the three counties (Rutherford, McDowell and Polk) agreed to seek
Commissioner approval to include an apportioned (per capita) increase in the county allocations over a
period of five years. For Rutherford County, this increase is $70,687 additional each year. Although the
organization became a two-county agency effective July 1st, 2019, the County’s recommended budget
continues funding at Rutherford’s multi-year planned increase and additional funds to help with the
expected shortfall in their Medicaid cost settlement funding, for a total of $108,671 (15% increase).
FY2021-2022 is the last year of the five-year Health District appropriation increase plan.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 13Emergency Medical Service
Contributions to the rescue squads are budgeted but will not be released prior to the execution of a
contract between a rescue squad and the County. Such contract must be executed by July 31, 2021 or
the funding to that rescue squad will be reallocated to the capital outlay line item within the EMS
budget. The two non-county managed rescue squads (Rutherford County Rescue and Hickory Nut
Gorge EMS & Rescue) requested increases of the county contributions to their operations this year,
which the county does not have sufficient funds available to accommodate their requests. As the
districts were adjusted in FY2017-18 to evenly apportion the geographic response areas for the two
rescue squads, this budget proposes that the total current appropriation of funds assigned to the
rescue squads be allocated evenly at $92,202 each.
Salary Adjustment
The County participated in a pay & class study three years ago due to a continued salary
“compression” issue from when the County could not financially support salary adjustments during the
recession years. Compression causes a severe morale problem when experienced, long-term
employees cannot increase through their grade with the new employees being paid at or equitable to
the same as seasoned employees. Also, the investments made by the County to train and certify staff
were not being actualized due to turnover resulting from our inability to compete with neighboring
counties and municipalities.
Based on the results of the pay & class study that the County received from The Maps Group, the
county wages were considered compressed by approximately $2 million as compared to the regional
study area (excluding larger and more urban counties and cities such as Buncombe, Gaston,
Mecklenburg, Charlotte, etc.). To address the compression, the first of a multi-year phase-in was
effective April 2018. The FY2019-20 budget included the final of the three-phased rollout of the pay
class study effective with the June 2020 payroll. This two-phased approach (COLA and pay class study
adjustment) within the same budget year permitted the county to implement the pay class study
recommendations over several budget cycles while ensuring that we keep pace with the continually
fluid and evolving regional wage market. The recommended FY2021-2022 budget includes a 1% COLA
effective January 2022 to help maintain competitive salaries now that the pay study implementation is
complete.
Position Changes
Several position reclassifications or new positions were requested by the departments for FY2021-22.
As the current revenues projected for FY2020-21 will not support most of the new positions or
reclassifications that are not part of an employee’s required staff certification, this budget is limited to
the following. The recommended budget includes a full-time emergency management assistant
(partially supported by the Health District) and a part-time DSS Income Maintenance position (partially
supported by state and federal reimbursement).
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 14Retirements
Several retirements are expected in FY2021-22 and the corresponding payouts for accrued vacations
are budgeted ($10,000). This amount is included as a line item under the Human Resources
Department.
Benefit Changes
No benefit changes are recommended for the FY2021-22 budget and the budget continues the split-
level health coverage offered through the State Health Plan. The County pays for employee-only
coverage at the 70% rate; employees may elect and pay for coverage at the 80% rate. The budget
includes funding for a potential State Health Plan rate increase of 2.5% increase (5% actual effective
January 2022) and no increase for dental insurance. The local government retirement allocation is
expected to increase by 8.6% and the law enforcement officer retirement allocation is expected to
increase by 9.1%.
The County property liability budget allocation and worker’s compensation is expected to increase by
2%.
9-1-1 Fund
Total revenues and expenditures are $556,509, all of which is funded through the 9-1-1 surcharge and
within the guidelines established by the State. The County continues to work towards improved
countywide radio transmission and reception with eventual integration into the statewide VIPER
system.
NOTE: 9-1-1 work is severely hindered by existing law that restricts use of 9-1-1 funds only to handling phone calls and not
allowing expenditures for receiving equipment such as radios and towers. In effect, 9-1-1 fees pay for a call into the 9-1-1
center but not for the call to send help. It is estimated that the County will have $26,262 in 9-1-1 fund reserves as of June
30, 2021 that it would like to use towards telecommunication improvements but cannot due to this restrictive law.
Grant Fund
The recommended FY2021-2022 grant fund is comprised of the following continuing grants:
Urgent Repair Program
NC Department of Commerce Building Reuse Grant
One NC Fund Grant
Bulletproof Vests Grant
Single Family Rehabilitation Grant
NC Department of Commerce Industrial Development Fund Grant
NC Commerce CDBG Housing Grant
NC Commerce CDBG-CV Grant
Department of Justice Grants
If the Board approves, carry over balances from FY2020-2021 grants will be re-budgeted with June
30, 2021 unexpended balances.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 15Transit Fund
The Transit Advisory Board has submitted the following budget:
REVENUE
Elderly & Handicap Funds $ 94,733
State Grant RGP $ 114,860
State Administration Grant $ 242,313
NCDOT ROAP Work First Grant $ 20,412
State Grant Vehicle Purchase $ 123,138
State Grant Equipment $ 1,551
RHI Legacy Grant $ 25,000
Contribution from Outside Agencies $ 515,000
Fund Balance Appropriated $ 82,751
Total Revenues $1,219,758
EXPENSES
EXPENSES
Salaries/Fringe $ 733,268
Operations (other than below) $ 143,112
Capital Outlay $ 142,649
Fuel $ 100,000
Insurance $ 80,729
General Fund Indirect Costs $ 20,000
Total Expenses $ 1,219,758
There are no County funds budgeted for Transit. The fund generates revenues from its users and from
grants made by the state and federal governments. Transit will closely monitor proposed legislation
and state funding, including ROAP funding.
Solid Waste
The budget continues to fund the School Recycling Coordinator part-time position ($13,000) to
promote recycling efforts in the schools. Recycling is not only the right thing environmentally for our
future, it also saves the County over $42 per ton in disposal costs.
The Solid Waste and Revenue Departments continue to work closely with private haulers to ensure
citizens are charged appropriately for Convenience Site Fees. In December 2019, bids were received
for waste and recycling disposal. The contract with Republic for hauling residential/business waste to
an out-of-county waste collection facility will be for a 7-year period with two 2-year renewal options
and increases annually by 3% or indexed to CPI. The Solid Waste Department entered into a recycling
contract with Curbside Management for a 7-year period with two 2-year renewal options.
The international, national, state and local recycling markets continue to show signs of deterioration,
which has impacted the recycling contract costs. The FY2020-2021 budget included a new recycling
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 16availability fee of $8 annually to be assessed on all improved properties within the County. This new
fee is used to operate the recycling program and to absorb the increased costs. Out of County
recyclables received at the transfer station are charged $130/ton.
The Solid Waste Department has faced multiple challenges during recent years continuing into
FY2021-2022, which will have an impact on our future revenue projections and will impact
expenditures. Due to State and national economic impacts and legislative impacts on the electronics,
textiles, metal, white goods, tires, oil and textile recycling programs, revenues have been negatively
impacted. Tipping fees are recommended to be adjusted to the following as of July 1 st, 2021: MSW
Tipping Fees $64/ton (previously $62/ton) and C&D Tipping Fees $47/ton (previously $45/ton). The
Department is currently moving forward with a project to close one landfill cell and open a new one.
An escrow account is in place for the enterprise budget to build this account up over time to cover this
expenditure, which we anticipate to be approximately $1.5 million. Upon receipt of the bids, a
recommendation and budget amendment will be presented for the reserved funds.
Due to these budget constraints, the Solid Waste Vehicle Replacement Fund does not include any
vehicles or equipment this year.
A recap of Revenues and Expenses for the Solid Waste Fund are as follows:
REVENUES
Household/Recycling Availability Fee $2,485,527
Tipping Fees $2,189,144
Recycling Revenues $ 72,000
NC DENR ($2 ton) Fees $ 70,000
Tire Disposal $ 84,000
White Goods $ 22,000
License Fees $ 1,200
Electronics Management $ 800
Contracted Services $ 35,000
Solid Waste Disposal Tax $ 36,000
Total Revenues $4,995,671
EXPENSES
Collections
Salaries/Fringe $ 738,218
Fuel $ 70,000
Operations $ 220,540
General Fund Indirect Costs $ 71,300
Transfer to Vehicle/Equipment $ 67,690
Capital Outlay $ 80,000
Total Collections $1,262,748
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 17Disposal
Salaries/Fringe $ 533,776
School Recycling Position $ 13,000
Waste/Recycling Disposal Contract $ 2,016,000
NC DENR Fees ($2 ton) $ 83,000
General Fund Indirect Costs $ 95,029
Operations $ 645,543
Capital Outlay $ 67,100
Transfer to Vehicle/Equipment $ 294,475
Total Disposal $ 3,747,923
Total Expenses $4,995,671
Summary of Recommended Budgets for all Funds
Revenues Expenditures
General Fund $56,744,855 $56,744,855
DSS Fund $13,715,330 $13,715,330
Airport Fund $ 716,792 $ 716,792
Vehicle/Equipment Replacement* $ 1,699,287 $ 1,699,287
Telephone Internal Service Fund $ 105,927 $ 105,927
SAN Server Upgrade Internal Service Fund $ 151,667 $ 151,667
E911 PSAP Fund $ 556,509 $ 556,509
ROD Automation Enhancement $ 75,297 $ 75,297
Grant Fund*
ICC Capital Reserve Fund $ 550,000 $ 550,000
Debt Service Fund $ 6,606,425 $ 6,606,425
Service District Funds $ 4,147,065 $ 4,147,065
Queens Gap Fund*
Schools Capital Project Fund*
Capital Project Fund – Other*
Transit Fund $ 1,219,758 $ 1,219,758
Solid Waste Fund $ 4,995,671 $ 4,995,671
GRAND TOTAL ALL FUNDS $91,284,583 $91,284,583
*Carryforward any unspent funds as of June 30, 2021.
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Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 18Appendix A: "Change in Fund Balances of Governmental Funds Last Ten Fiscal Years"
Source: Rutherford County Annual Report, June 30, 2020 Statistical Section Table 4
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 19Appendix B: "Fund Balances of Governmental Funds, Last Ten Fiscal Years”
Source: Rutherford County Annual Report, June 30, 2020 Statistical Section Table 3
Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 20Appendix C: Article 46 Sales Tax Trend Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 21
Appendix D: School Capital Account Budget Message FY2021-22 Page 22
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