147  CARTERET COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS  REGULAR SESSION COMMISSIONERS BOARDROOM JUNE 3, 2024 6:00 P.M.  Commissioners Present: Chairman Jimmy Farrington, Vice-Chairman Mark Mansfield, David Quinn, Chris Chadwick, Ed' Wheatly, Bob Cavanaugh, and Chuck Staff Present: Tommy Burns, County Manager; Dee Meshaw, Deputy County Manager/Finance Director; Gene Foxworth, Assistant County Manager/Planning Director; Ray Hall, IT Director; Sharon Griffin, County Attorney; and Lori Turner,  Shinn  County Clerk  . Meeting Called to Order/Pledge of Alegancel"inyocation Allegiance. Commissioner Quinn provided the invocation. II. Conflict of Interest/Cell Phone Statement  Chairman Farrington called the meeting to order at 6PM. Commissioner Wheatly led the Pledge of  Chairman Farrington read the conflict of interest statement and reminded everyone to silence their  cell phones  III. Adoption of Agenda The vote was unanimous. IV. Consent Agenda  Commissioner Chadwick made a motion to adopt the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Quinn.  1. Approval of the following Budget Amendment: $181,880 Appropriating State Lottery Repair and Renovation Funds for Newport and Smyrna Elementary  Schools Gym Floor Repairs  CARTERET COUNTY FINANCE  Denise H. Meshaw, CPA Finance Deputy Department Manager  Tel: (252) 728-0133 28-8410 arteretcountyne.  To: From: Dates Subject:  Board Deel Meshaw. of Commissioner. Deputy County Manager June Schooit 3, Capital Fund Budget. Amendment  Attached repair for: your: consideration funds is a for .880 budget and Smyrnal  appropriating chools gym  floor attached budget The: amendme state requires is needed. funds The flow Schools, the County. the repairs and thus being the  this fall. The attached budget  is recommended for approval.    148  2. Approval of the Request to Renew Workers' Compensation, Property and Liability Insurance Coverage with the NC Association of County Commissioners for 2025  CARTERET COUNTY FINANCE  Benise H. Meshaw. CPA Finance  Tel:  To: From: Subjectr For: your: consideration! cov e Compensation, premiums July 1.  Board of Dee Moshaw, Deputy County Manager June: 3, 2024 Workers" nowine hrough. June 30, 2025. sign the  Proporty and Llabillty insurance Compensation. property fiscal and year liability 2025. 0, in the FV25 liability ation ounty omm with  to of pren nce NO  orkers is Stafr 12%  ded This be  3. Approval of the Memorandum of Interlocal Agreement with the Town of Morehead City to Collect Ad Valorem Taxes  : Be : e - : spRent - P : : :  I 6o   -  e  - - :  : -   - M - :  - :  1 D s  -  =.    -  a    o    149  :  - o.  : a -  - - - : T  : m  e  :: y a. an :. ros oeta ses: e: e E ax   :t " : - :  rs >nx  as   i wass a E ahe wa  a : soeios  ls intoresr. a e   3 a - - 7 an - E - E 37 n - E E. - - - -    -  e) -  sptas -s: nan ue oF E nent od :  s apon   be t on  bot  :he  pa  dey  4. Approval of the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Licensing  Renewal  INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY  Rgi Hall, CGCIO information Technology Attached; for: your County yeare to cene sins Thisl all County with our Microsoft softwar indey and yatoms which off pocket upgrades and aupport benefits 365 notionality for consideration.  Board of tay rosofe Agreement is our licensing his Subss Staff nds the informati of Tect majority of prodwctst used by the  renevels is for al of the products used by Cartaret County- to dget Keep o the support ounty ns for both Powerpoint. ich etc. This: E- Cloud covers and Ses Agreement are conditional for for Court  all cloud physical hosts,  Microsoft ments. Products and Subscriptions. is on State ontract Server Windovys ing: Sy Center and Appllontions indows, Exchango E- FE icensing critical to truly County fully co re and pro operatingo from out free license secuirity versions for upgrac des Microso all #E products so Signon aivays has  opertionse applcati Thi ions (Word,  S Mail stabase Sorvere. ens, Sharepoint: Data Servers S, Syster Center: aa all of: our annual MPEPORES. oint, Onebrive, Teams. cubsoription Employ access free online: training ions. free. home and server versions products, of or urth our Apps relliones that enbese for this. othor The: annue! and run. ipt of ons the County's Microsoft Servers. Thank you for: your time  Microsoft  Office, Shareoint Teams This functionality chitesturn  210 Turner Streat, Boaufort. North Carolina: 28616  Due to the size oft the contract, it has not been included in the minutes. A full copy of the contract  can be reviewed by contacting the County Clerk.    150  5. Approval of the Resolution Supporting the Renaming of the Russell's Creek Bridge to the Patrolman William "Bill" James  Smith, Jr. Memorial Bridge  EBOLUTION OF  TO THE PATROLMA  SMITH, ON JR. MEMORIAL 101 BRIDGE  Board of Traneportation may name to North bridges General or ferries; and 136-18 (a). the North Carolina Carol MFREAB to Highway the Carteret County w.J. Board Smith, of Comminsioner. for Smith, Jr. Memorial nty by Bridge: the Russelrs Oreek Bridge 5 patroiman serv Highway Patrolman Patroi Smith for: 25 assigned to Troop A. District 8. and while bridge uing abutment Jouary and burst 12. 1974 flames: 101 troman, and the Russeirs was Killed Bridge a patrol when his collision does Bridge herebs THEREFORE. on Highway 101 the to North the IT RESOLVED Board iliam that "Bir" Carteret James Gounty name Board commisianer 's Creek  desires to honor. former  North leaving an Alcohol HREAS: behi ind  with the  Agent: Smith and young 50 day old Smith, when who he serve killed d in community line of duty  WHEREAS. the family of ADOPTED this the 3rd day of 2024. Jimmy Farrington. Chairman Bob Cavanaugh. commissionor David Quinn. Commissioner  Smith supports this request in his honor.  Jr. Memorial Bricge  Mark Mansfieid. Chris Chadwiok, Chuck Shinn. commissioner  Edv Wheatly. commissioner  Commissioner Cavanaugh made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Seconded by  Commissioner Wheatly. The vote was unanimous. V. Public Hearing to Receive Public Comment on the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 County Government Budget  Commissioner Chadwick made a motion to open public comment. Seconded by Commissioner Ms. Dale Gillikin, 660 Lake Rd, Newport. Good evening Commissioners. la am a Board of Elections Board member. Iwas encouraged by fellow Board members to come and speak tonight regarding our upcoming budget. Our Board was recently informed that the Board of Election's salary increases that the Board recommended were not recommended by County personnel for your approval. Our Board of Elections Department has critical positions. Elections must be held. They must be secure. They must be 100% compliant or there are legal repercussions. Our Board of Elections Director has legal, statutory, and fiscal responsibilities. As well as accountability to uphold the law. Our Director is knowledgeable oft the NC General Statutes that change on a dime and require a lot of short fused action. With this type of responsibility it is difficult to justify that our Board of Elections Director is the third lowest paid Department Head in this county. They interface regularly with public state boards of elections, other counties, news media, county IT, Human Resources, Safety Officers, the Public Building Department, and Finance just to name a few. Security of elections at our voting sites is imperative. This includes delivery and inventory of our equipment. Board of Elections validates and verifies all election and voter history for data integrity. Some examples of our Director's salary compared to other counties are Stanley County has 5,000 citizens less than Carteret and they make over $5,000 more a year. Chatham County has over 7,000 more citizens than Carteret and they make over $12,000 more a year. Our Director  Quinn. The vote was unanimous.    151  supervises over 200 employees. Elections must be transparent with a 100% visibility especially with all the public scrutiny we are under from the election integrity groups. We are under a microscope. The Director deals with public relations daily, newspapers, TV, radio, freedom of information act requests, and data requests. Our Director is the face of Carteret County and they tell our story and speak sO that voters understand how their votes count, and how to secure elections without getting hacked. Salary is key to retention of personnel and continuity to minimize turn over. hope each of you understand the criticality of this department and will inquire and reconsider why the Board of Elections salary increases were not in the recommended budget. Thank you. Commissioner Wheatly asked about other county salaries. Ms. Gillikin stated the data she Vice-Chairman Mansfield asked about years of service compared to the other counties that were referenced. Ms. Gillikin responded that she was not aware of the other Directors' tenure. Vice- Chairman Mansfield said isn't that kind of significant when making those types of decisions. He continued, I'm looking at your numbers now, and other than the four year election cycle you are receiving more money than you have ever received. So, you are getting more money every year. What are you all doing with the money if it's not going tot the employees. Ms. Gillikin responded, obviously there are line items within that budget, and all costs of doing business have increased. This year we had a second primary that we didn't have planned for in our budget. So, we had to use our emergency fund. Vice-Chairman Mansfield said that is definitely a good point. He continued, you opened up an additional early voting place this past election during the primary and itd didn't get more than 500 votes at that site, and we staffed it with six people a day. In my business, lwouldn't operate that way. Is that something we are going to continue to do in the future. Ms. Gillikin said as ai tax payer,! l'am very concerned. As a presidential election year, we were anticipating a higher voting turnout. Four years ago, that is exactly what we did, we had four early voting sites opened up. But we were highly disappointed this year at the voter turnout for that first primary. Again, everything that we do is to make things easily assessible for the voters so they Commissioner Cavanaugh said Ithink another point is that the extra early voting place was in the third district which was a competitive race in this primary, and none oft the other polling places were int the third district. Ms. Gillikin stated that was correct. Normally we have three early voting sites, Beaufort, Ft. Benjamin Park in Newport, and' Western Park down in Cape Carteret/Cedar Point area. We can never forecast how many voters are going to come out. We are required by state Commissioner Wheatly asked for the cost estimate of the second primary. Ms. Gillikin said well, I know what it cost to rent those Ryder Trucks to delivery equipment; it is over $12,000. So, it costs Commissioner Chadwick thanked Ms. Gillikin and told her she does a good job for us. Is the salary increase you are asking for, is that for the part-time folks. Ithink last year they got ai two dollar an hour increase. Ms. Gillikin confirmed that was correct. But, we are having a tough time recruiting Commissioner Cavanaugh asked if she had a number she wanted to throw at us. Ms. Gillikin responded the numbers are all different because again there are four different personnel in the office. Butlknowi that it is around 3% for all oft them. Ican get the numbers to you. Commissioner Wheatly made a motion to close public comment for the government budget.  referenced was just for the Director position.  have their opportunity to voice their vote.  law to have at least three people per site.  a lot to have elections.  personnel. But this salary request this year was for the four full-time positions.  Seconded by Commissioner Cavanaugh. The vote was unanimous.    152  VI. Fire & EMS Commission Budget Request  Mr. Mark Shouse stated only two departments have a recommended tax rate  Rescue District requested a two cents tax rate increase. This would be an increase change. of two Newport's cents to four cents, and the maximum they can receive is five cents. Commissioner Shinn verified that correct. So, the Fire and EMS Commission have recommended that increase be approved. Their was fire tax is currently ten cents, and it is maxed out and can't change. The other South River's fire district. They are in the process of needing some equipment to change be the Fire & EMS Commission recommended an increase to seven cents. All of the departments replaced, this sO year have done a good job tightening their purse strings and managing their funds. Chairman Farrington thanked Mr. Shouse and the Fire & EMS Commission.  was for  VII. Presentation of the Carteret County Public Schools' 2024-25 Budget Request  Mr. Richie Paylor and Ms. Julie Bernotski presented the Carteret County Public Schools' 2024-25 budget request. Mr. Paylor began by stating some accompishments of the school continue to have no low performing schools in our district. That is something we are system. of. We are ranked 5th in NC for career and college readiness proficiency based on all summative proud test scores. We are ranked 6th for grade level proficiency. We are 3rd out of all NC high schools for ACT scores, and we are 1st in ACT Workkeys career and college readiness measure. Also for the third consecutive year our schools received the Purple Star Award meaning all of our schools are Next, we are going to talk about career and college readiness. So, when the MAST high school closed, we were tasked with making sure all of our students have easy access early college to classes. At Carteret Community College, we have a great partnership with them. This had 559 class hours taken by students int the Fall, and 593 class hours taken by students past ini the year, we Spring. That equals 379 students in the Fall, and 358 students in the Spring. So, we have a lot students taking those classes. Those classes are earning kids college credits so that families are of able to save thousands of dollars by kids going tot the community college while they are duel enrolled ino our schools. Also, we have a robust CTE program. Our high school students earned over 2,000 industry certifications. Those are things like OSHA, CPR, Hunter Safety, etc. We continue to have local internships. This past year we had a 164 internships with 97 businesses in Carteret Some of these might be paid internships, but they all earn experience in career exploration County. and school credit. We continue to expand our CAPE (Careers And Partnerships in Education) that started about 1.5 years ago. We partner with business to interview and select our students Program work at those businesses. All of these students are paid. They work at least 120 hours at the to business. Many oft them work a lot more than that. We have had al lot of success stories. Kids have found out that there are jobs here in Carteret County that they didn'teven know existed. has been al huge success. We had 27 interns during the school year, we will have 12 more So, this summer. We just added several businesses such as the Beaufort Hotel, Beaufort Wine & Parker Offshore, and the Town of Beaufort. We began with the hospital and we continue to Food, be Now, we are going to talk about some budget considerations now. Some of this you have seen from the March Seminar. So, the first slide is about our fund balance. During COVID, the 2020-21 school year, we were able to add a significant amount of money to our fund balance due to the not being in so we were able to save on substitutes and buses, etc. We used a significant savings amount of that in the 2021-22 year (about $1.6M) to balance the budget. Then we used a little over  We  friendly for our military families.  military  college  high  that great  partners with them. This has been a great program.  school  of    153  a million in 2022-23, and this year we expect to use around $1.1M to help balance the budget. So, we are predicting our fund balance is going to be down significantly at the end oft this year. The next slide came from a slide that Mr. Burns presented at the last Board of Commissioners meeting that shows the increase on how much we have asked for over the past years. His slide went to the year 2025, but we backed it up to the last closed fiscal year which would be June 30, 2023. The increase totals $5.59M, sO we have looked at specific line items in our budget toi try and So, the Historical Cost Increases slide contains hard numbers that we were able to pull and look at. The supplement percentage increases with salary increases, so from 2016 to 2023 the supplement has cost us almost $1.6M. The hourly salary increase is when the state came in and said we had to pay the employees a minimum of $15/hr. That increase has totaled almost $700,000. As for Certified Salary Increases, when the state gives a raise to teachers, we have to give a raise toi the locally paid teachers. We can'tsay you are locally paid, you are not going to get a raise. Just the local certified teacher pay increases have totaled $1.177M. The slide continues with a list of Vice-Chairman Mansfield asked the only way charter schools get more money is by getting more students correct. Mr. Paylor said that is one way, Idon't know if their rate does increase. Ms. Bernotski stated the calculation changed last year. So, yes as our population grows the amount we pay each charter school is going to go up. Vice-Chairman Mansfield asked if the state gave the schools an increase in the ADM. Mr. Paylor responded that he was not sure. Vice-Chairman Mansfield asked how much the state pays per child. The charter school should be funded from the average daily membership (ADM), there is a number associated with that membership sO if you get more children, you get more funding. Less children, less funding. Ifthe state is giving charter schools more money, did they give us more money. Mr. Paylor responded I don't know ifl know the answer tot that question, but one point about the charter schools is that recently they changed the rule to now we have to include the virtual public charter school in our funding as well. So, that added ac chunk to our budget. I'm not sure Ifollow your question Mr. Mansfield. Vice-Chairman Mansfield said it's just about funding. Ift the charter schools got more funding, Iwant to know why. Mr. Paylor Commissioner Chadwick stated now a kid can be an online student in their on virtual charter school. Mr. Paylor confirmed that was correct. They take classes online from the state. Commissioner Chairman Farrington asked for clarification on how dual enrollment works. Are they spending all day at the community college. Mr. Paylor said it depends, they could be taking one class or two classes at the college. Chairman Farrington then asked who is getting the FTE on the student. The Vice-Chairman Mansfield stated he wanted to go back to the virtual charter school cost discussion. Ms. Bernotski stated we used to have to pay $79 per student that was enrolled in a charter school, Mr. Paylor said now let's talk about the budget request. First, we will talk about the capital budget. This year we are requesting $3,216,224. The main categories are painting for East Carteret, and Bogue Sound Elementary. We have flooring needs in our media centers and office areas. Repairs and renovations, and technology updates are needed throughout the system. We are also requesting funding for one school bus for our Carteret Pre-school Center, two activity buses, and two  track how much we have spent compared to the increase.  increases. This helps explain why we keep asking for more.  said its because we have more kids now due to the virtual charter school. Chadwick asked how many kids are doing that. The reply was 60 kids.  response was FTE goes to the college, ADM goes to the school system. but that calculation has changed. Itis a larger amount now per student.  trucks for maintenance.    154  For operating, lam going to turn it over to Julie Bernotski. Ms. Bernotski stated the 2024-2025 Operating Budget Request slide shows the actual revenue that we received from the 24, our 2024-25 budget request, and the change in revenue totaling $3.4M. We county some slides to breakdown that increase sO you can see exactly where this is all will go through There few things that go into this $3.4M, the first is the increase in expenditures which going. is almost $2.9M. are a Second is the 2023-24 budget deficit that equals $942K, and other revenue sources that is Chairman Farrington said just to be clear that $942K is from the fund balance. Ms. confirmed that was correct. Chairman Farrington asked what was the reason for the Bernotski use this fund balance. Ms. Bernotski replied that she was new in this position and Ic came budget deficit to and wanted to get a historical background of everything that has happened with this went back to 2016 and looked at the funding patterns. It looked like each year we asked budget, andl much (hand gesture raised high) but we only got this much (hand gesture much (hand gesture again raised). The problem is year after year of this process, lowered) we spent this where we run out of fund balance. That is where we are today.  in 2023- a net of  $420K.  in here and for this we get to the point positions that  Mr. Paylor stated the next two slides are about staffing. We talked about the critical are funded with ESSERS funds that are going away. We want to keep these totals $477,425.83. We feel like there is also a need for new positions such as positions Athletic and that Assistant Facility Support Director, an Assistant Principal at Croatan High School, and Behavior Trainers, an Support Teachers and assistants. Together these new positions total $519,674 per year. Ms. Bernotski continued with the 2024-25 Increase in Expenditures slide. The contains the new items (positions) that Mr. Paylor just referenced. That column yellow totals column $997K. green column is the school system's regular increase. Such things as a 3% raise on salaries, The regular expected increases for utilities, contracts, etc. However, we also have the the middle and that includes adjustments. These are things that have historically been purple under in budgeted or missed int the budget request. It is meant to true up what we are actually spending. The next slide is the pie chart that is the full annual budget (including state funding.) Finally, the last slide is our local budget request. $3,216,224 for capital and $31,048,484 for Mr. Paylor stated that the school system appreciates your support. We are a tier of our local support. We will be glad to sit down and go over line item by line top item the system because if Commissioner Cavanaugh asked, on your capital budget request, what is the increase from last year. Mr. Paylor stated I don't have that number with me, but Iwould say that the similar to what it was last year. Ms. Bernotski stated we were funded at $2M last request but is very Commissioner Chadwick asked if there was anything ini their budget request that like walking trails. Mr. Paylor responded there are no walking trails in the budget they request. do Commissioner Cavanaugh stated that during the course of the year we shifted money out of capital account that was going to be used to paint some buildings, but it was shifted over to your operating because you wanted to retain three teachers. Do you in fact retain those teachers. Mr. Paylor responded yes sir. Commissioner Cavanaugh asked ift those teachers were still employed  column  operating.  anyone has any questions.  budget  moved $210K from our capital to our operating budget.  year, we  can without    155  and included int the operating budget requested for 2024-25. Mr. Paylor confirmed that the teachers' salaries were included int the operating budget request. Commissioner Cavanaugh asked what positions were filled. Mr. Paylor responded that he could not remember the three. Commissioner Cavanaugh asked ift they were ESSER funded positions. Mr. Paylor replied no, but we are cutting about 50 positions after. June 30th that were ESSER funded that we have had for the last three years. Those cuts include nurses, teaching assistants, some teachers, and technology coaches. ESSER  funds were used to try to help with learning loss during and after COVID. Chairman Farrington thanked Mr. Paylor and Ms. Bernotski for the presentation.  F  C  Bucige* RECVEEY  on 2024.2025  -  COUNTY SYSTEM ACCOMPLISHMENTS  Through ocal support..- accountably model. Readiness Proficieney based on all based on all summative FIRST on ACTWOrkKy  CCPS continued to have no low performing schools using the state CCPS is ranked. Fifeh out of NC schoo! systems. for College and Career CCPS, is ranked sih out of NC schools systems for Grade Level Proficiency CCPS high schools ranked thind out of NC high schools for ACT scores. Out of the 115 publici school systems in the state, CCPS highschools ranked  test  scores-,  and college readine: SS  COUNTY SYSTEM ACCOMrNTS  Ever schoot in the Carteret, Counte Public Schoe! syster e arne  third-s nsscutive Pur Ple. amilies  Awa for  Ps -  the e  Distr  CAREER & COLLEGE PROMISE  PrterhE if Carteret ommu College Allows, students to get o in skills and 9e credits scbool 2023 559 classes E tudonts ca 2024 593 classes taken by  coUN  high bx  o  CARTERET -    156  RCOUNTY CAREER & COLLEGE  READINESS  Industry Certifications 2,002 industry certifications earned in CCPS High Schools during 2023-2024 school year Over 29 Certifications Offered AVVS Professional. eldings 14 Bosic SupporEs PHot, CPR, Cereined Guest Service  including: EVERFI Financial. Express &r Mana DOT UAS Opera op  Entrs First Carpentry, BMAN welding. National in industry. SH vSafe Food re epreneuriall  6: of Business. Machine Vouth for danagers  Hunters OSHA-A Agrics onry.  FRET coUNTY CAREER & COLLEGE  READINES  Local tomahips Working with community buainess to provide students empioyment learning xperiences 164. internships in 97 businesses in: Carteret Sounty: during the 2023- 2024 school: year  Fusls  ille tealty  CAREER & COLLEGE R &  -rahips    CAPE EEEias. in  AREER & OLEEGE   FUND BALANCE  Vear and    157  PUBLIC SCHOOL OPERATING FUNDING  STORICAL CosT NCREASES  038:83032  2024-2025 CAPITAE BUDGET REQUEST  Capiesl Budiget RoGst Painting Flooring Repairs: B Renovations Furniture 8 Equipment Tehroioey Vehicles & Buse Totas Cpsat Regue  $887.185 5195,000 5889009 $504039 $296.000 445000  COUNTY 2024-2025 OPERATING BUDGET REQUEST  Actual 2023-2024 2024-2025 $600.000  Actus! as 2024 $93,340  Revenue Source Local Sources General (County Appropriaton Appropriatons Charter Schools Totals  Request $693,340  $27.030.000 $30.355,114 $3,325,114 $27,630.000 $31,048,454 $3,418,454  eS 2,896.92084 942.527.00 (20.000.00) $ 21B,4834  increase in Expendiures 23-24 Budget Deficit Other Revenue Sources Budget increase from 23-24    158  CRITICAL OSONs FROM ESSERS  3M5 Social Studies Teachers 1.5 EL Teachers 1.5 EC Teachers  3238.742.91 s1a9.350.0 a1sas0as $477.425.8:  MEMV POSTION EEDS  Athietic Trainers Assistant Faciity Support Assistant Principal at Bebavior Teac  135,000.00 139,803-4 $93,645.93 317122493 519.874.00  2024-2025 INCREASE I2 EXPENDITURES  m  o  in Starr Total  CCPS 2024-2025 LOCAL BUDGET BREAKDOWN  Thenks for DPOrne our future Grecuates &. Citizens.  copital 3,218.224 peroting 31.04B.454    159  VIII. Presentation of the Carteret Community College  2024-25 Budget Request  Dr. Tracy Mancini thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak with you tonight and talk about our budget request this year. Before I do that, Iwould like tot thank you for the recent allocation that you provided for us to proceed with the piping and HVAC renovations at the McGee Building. Itis really essential work, and we are sO glad to be able to move forward with that because we have been doing piece repairs on long deferred maintenance on that building. So, we are very appreciative of lalso wanted to give you a very quick update on our work force center for trades and transportation technology which is entirely funded by state allocations. We had $9.375M we have received over the past four years through state funded sources that we can apply to a work force center. We. just today received word from the NC Board of Community Colleges that we have approval to proceed with the phase one environmental assessment on the land that we hope to build that on at our campus. So once we have that we can begin to parcel and rezone the land that we want to use and move forward. We hope to be in design phase for that this summer, and break ground in the fall. Nowl will turn to our budget request. thought that would begin by giving you an overview of the college's overall budget. This current year, and what we are estimating for next year. This year we had about $17M in state funding for the college. It began at about $14M but then the General Assembly allocated a lot of additional categorial money. For example they gave us additional funds toi increase salaries for nurses sO that we could pay them a market rate because a lot of the colleges across the state were having trouble funding nursing positions. They gave us money for high cost start-up programs to hire people to do the curriculum and get necessary equipment for short-term workforce training programs. The county generously provided about $4M. That is 13.7% of our total budget this year. Institutional funds were about 26% of our budget, this was pass-through which is money we received from Pell grants or Federal grants. So, this year's total budget is $28.8M. For the coming year we have requested a budget of $29M. So, it is really not al large increase. We are hopeful that the State Legislature, when they finish the short session, may include a few more of those allocations for programs for individuals with developmental needs. We have been tapped to participate in a potential pilot for that to increase workforce training for students who have disabilities at the college. We are requesting about $4.4M total from the county for operating costs and capital. County operating funds go towards our safety, security, campus operations, and facilities maintenance. We have had al lot of great improvements on campus over the last several years. We have invited more and more people to campus with the walking trail and living shoreline, and the Hospitality and Culinary Art Center, the Big Rock Career Center, and other programs. So more people are visiting and we get excellent feedback on the safety, security, and appearance of our The specific operating request for this year is basically a continuation budget. We are requesting $3.4M and that consists of our general institutional administration funds, contracted services, utilities, and insurance bonding. It is approximately an 8% increase. Currently we are about 5% over in utilities this year and thati is due to the McGee building piping incident. That was a catastrophic loss and we had to plug in a lot of space heaters to be able to continue having classes. We were using a lot of electricity during that period. The repairs that we are about to do will significantly decrease our utilities cost. So, our request is slightly higher but based on actual year-to-date information. Our capital request is the same as last year, $1M. Most of that is for renovations and improvements on campus. We continue to work the deferred maintenance list. We do have a need to update  that.  campus. It is something we are very proud of.    160  some spaces to better serve our students. We are adding keyless entry to all of our rate of one or two buildings per year. One oft the things we ran into this year was the buildings budget amount a didn't quite make it because in order to add the key pads, the doors needed to be upgraded. We will continue to be good stewards of our resources while serving the needs of our students and Chairman Farrington stated it is amazing what Dr. Mancini has done at the college. You don't enough credit. Your Foundation Board has been very progressive. Our college is amazing. You get do Dr. Mancini thanked Chairman Farrington and stated iti is ai team effort and a partner effort.  at  Knowing that, we are asking for al little bit more for the coming year.  the community. agreat job.  AKTEET /  Overall Budget FY 24 and Estimated FY 25  MATE  GARTERETNL,  Operating Request  2024 2025 Carteret County Community Operating College Budget Request Operating Budget Generall Gatesary Institution aAdministraton Appreved Budgee Budoet Requ  Summary  Contracted Services. Service Agreements a Repaira!  40.0 000.00 00 811 000.00 00  1.950.0 500. 000. 000. 00 600, 000. 00 GARTERETNL  Insurance andE Bonding! iies! Budgets Requestl 3.161.000.0 00  996    161  Capital Request  E  GARTERETAE  IX. Continued Budget Discussion  Mr. Tommy Burns stated at this point we have presented the recommended budget. Tonight, you heard presentations from key stakeholders. We tried to keep this as a maintenance budget and Ms. Meshaw and Iwill be glad to answer any questions that the Board may have for us.  X. Commissioners Comments  Commissioner Shinn stated first he wanted to apologize to Dr. Mancini for my alarm going offi in the middle of your presentation. l'appreciate the work and effort that went into the presentations tonight. It was all good information toi take into account in our deliberations. Itis a busy season. Commissioner Cavanaugh stated that he wanted to salute all the folks that work sO hard to put these budgets together. We have to go through all of this (budget notebooks) which is page after page of line items and numbers. It is very comprehensive and it is also hard to comprehend it all. But somehow, we manage to make it through year after year. Ms. Meshaw and her staff deserve all of the credit. My hat is off to all the folks in all the departments that work on their budgets. Vice-Chairman Mansfield stated that he would like to thank all of our employees for all of the hard work they do. They submit their request to the Finance Department and scrutinize their budget to do good on behalf of our taxpayers int the county. Obviously, all of the staff do a great job. Our county would not be as good as it is if not for all oft the employees that we have at the hospital, the community college, the school system, etc. As Mr. Paylor mentioned, our school system ranks as one of the top in the state. When we are talking about budgetary numbers, we also rank int the top 10% oft the size of our budget that funds education in the state. So, Ithink education has always been important in Carteret County and it shows. The hard part is where do you squeeze the dollars from. That is always the hard part. We will have to try to work through it the best we can. We are sensitive to providing services but also not putting al burden on the taxpayers int the county. Right now every where you go, things cost more. So, it is a big problem. Commissioner Wheatly stated he reiterates what all of the other commissioners have said. Itis a tough job putting all of these numbers together. Everyone does a great job. Thank you all; you do Commissioner Chadwick stated everything costs more. Ithink the school system bares the brunt oft the scrutiny because it is the biggest piece of the pie. Ifyou look at the budget, the Sheriff's Office back in 2019 was about $10M, nowi it is $16M. Our Health and Human Services, the Health Department, everything cost more. Certainly Iv want to provide the best we can for students and teachers, and we have done that with the supplement. We actually went above what was  The budget is the most important decision we make.  Thank you all for a job well done.  aw wonderful job. Now it is our turn to do our job. Thank you.    162  requested a couple of years ago for the supplements. Ithink we are  the  This is the hard part, and we are trying to do the best we can dividing paying the pie. price for that now. Commissioner Quinn stated he would like to echo my fellow commissioners and thank all of the presenters here tonight. l'also want to thank Tommy Burns and Dee Meshaw for the ist ther real sausage making of governance. Iwould also like to thank my fellow We have to roll up our sleeves and go to work. It does take quite a bit of effort, commissioners. but we have a great supporting staff that makes our job easier. Thank you all very much. Chairman Farrington thanked Dee and her staff. llove the transparency in the  budget. This  need something from the Finance Department, we get it. We can call Dee and county. When we means a lot. Iwant to reiterate what Isaid to Dr. Mancini, the Carteret County School get answers. That is amazing. Now the Community College and School System are joined together and System together for kids who are getting the opportunity to duel enroll. The School System working presentation was one oft the best I have seen in long time. Great job. The school budget $165M a year. The total budget. Thank God for our predecessors and their foresight budget with is about taxpayer money. Year after year, the Board has kept the tax rate down. It is the best have ever done. We have tried to stay as tight as we possibly can. We have a ten thing school we system that has nowhere near the budget as the systems above them. We know top we are was born here, and Ih have seen this county change. It has changed for all the won't raise taxes this year. We are going to have to roll up our sleeves and right it out. I I understand that things cost more, but Iwill not raise taxes this year. llook forward figure to all of us working together on this budget. Carteret County is the best place to live. Again, thank everyone who put this budget together. This is my last budget. Have a good night. you to  I  reasons. good.  XI. Adjournment  Chairman Farrington made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Vice-Chairman Mansfield.  vote was unanimous. The meeting adjourned at 7:26 PM.  The  P e7ak Jomy Farrington, CHairman  d: - Tu Lori Turner, Clerk