All right ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome everybody to our meeting tonight June the 5th at the Ed Emory auditorium as you know because you're here tonight tonight that we get the first pass on our public hearing for our budget. So I hope everybody is ready and willing to listen and after Mr. Branson gets through presenting it we'll open the floor back up for public comment towards the budget and the budget only we'll have a general public comment first but to talk about the budget, we'll open that back up after the budget has been presented. So I'd like to officially call it, to call the meeting to order, and I'm gonna ask the, I'm gonna ask that everybody rise, and we give a moment of silence on behalf of our assistant county manager George future. I'm for sure everybody in this room knows that we lost George since our last meeting and that is a huge loss to all of us but he was very close to me so I'm gonna ask that we take a moment of silence and then I ask Mayor Conner's to do an invocation and then lead us in the pleasure lead us after you finish that so at this time please give honor to Mr. George I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room your lead us in the presentation and the pledge. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you to give you honor and praise for the many wonderful blessings you give unto us each and every day. We come to you tonight, Lord, as in that you will give wisdom and knowledge to our commissioners. We thank you for our county commissioners manager and we thank you for all those that continue to be faithful to serve here in Dupland County. We thank you for all of our employees that serve here to make this county better each and every day. We thank you for our political leaders in Raleigh as well as our federal leaders as well for the work that they do to help make Dupland County better. But also tonight we ask you to remember George's family, remember him, let us remember all the wonderful things that he brought to the table. We thank you for his kindness, we thank you for his labor, we thank you for him planting a seed about your holy kingdom, we thank you for his faithfulness as being a good Christian and a good servant. We ask you tonight Lord as we go forward that we see this example and make an effort to follow, Lord, as we go forward, that we see this example and make an effort to follow behind. And as we go forward, we do all that we do as a family here in Dublin County, working together for greater and better calls. These blessings we ask tonight, and in my denaming of your precious son, Jesus Christ, let all the God's children say amen. Amen. Thank you, Mr. Congress. A little bit of business to the flag of the United States of America and to the United for which it stands one nation on the line, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. the committee. Does he need commissioners have anything they want to add to the agenda tonight? Okay, what about you Mr. Branson? Yes sir, thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the board. If it pleases the board, I would like to respect the request that we add a request from our IT department to purchase two disaster recovery servers. And I'd like to make that presentation on their behalf after I do the agenda items that I have right before Miss Kennedy comes up. That was a request to purchase two disaster recovery servers. Pleasure to board. I got a motion. Sorry. Got a second. Any further comments? Here in none all in favor say aye. All opposed same sign. Carried. All right I need a motion to approve the minutes of the May 15 meeting. What's to approve. Thank you. We got a motion on a second. Any further discussion. Here in none all in favor say aye. All opposed same sign. Carried. All right, all right. All right. All right. All opposed, same side. Carey. All right. Hopefully everybody's looked over to consent agenda. It was fairly large this time. But I need a motion to approve. I got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Carey none. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same side. All right. All opposed, same side. All opposed. I got a motion and a second any further discussion Here and none all in favor say aye all opposed same side carry Okay, that brings us to our opening item number one Which is public comment? Do we have anybody to signed up for public comment? No sir no one signed up for public comment. Okay and as I said when I was opening up we will open up for public comment again about the budget after the budget's been presented okay so nobody signed, so we'll move on to item number two. Diana Hardy. Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here tonight. I am Diana Hardy. I'm an audit partner with RHCPAs, the audit firm that was engaged to do the independent audit. And I will be presenting those results as of June 30th, 2022. Each of you guys should have received a copy of the presentation. Happy for you guys to ask questions as I'm going through the presentation and I'll also take some at the end. So in slide two, we talk about the status of the audit. We have completed our fieldwork and the financial statements are completed in draft format as with every municipality in the state of North Carolina, the local government commission will approve the financial statements. So once those are submitted to the local government commission, the LGC, we will then issue the financial statements once we have their final blessing on the financial statements. So let's talk a little bit about what our role is as an independent auditor. First and foremost, we have to be independent of the county. Government auditing standards identifies independence as both independence and mind and fact. And this is something that us as auditors have to check with every new audit engagement. and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the public and the to plan the audit and that includes understanding the policies and procedures that the county has in place. After that we get an understanding of how well those policies and procedures are designed. So this includes a risk assessment, understanding the internal controls that are in place and identifying the high-risk areas for the county. From there we identify and test those high-risk areas and it's important to note that our opinion focuses on reasonable assurance. We don't test every single transaction I know you guys don't want to pay us to test every transaction so we rely a lot on sampling and focused on those high risk areas. Also, the county is required to have a single audit. For this current year, we tested the Medicaid and Medicare program, which is considered to be a compliance type audit. Moving on to slide four. So I talked a little bit about what our role is and what our objective is. So our opinion is going to be two. One on the financial statement piece and secondly on the compliance piece. So those major programs. So like I said the Medicare and Medicaid program. We also have some required supplementary information that is presented that is the management's discussion and analysis and additional schedules related to the pension liabilities of the county. For these required supplemental information schedules, we are required as auditors to apply certain limited procedures on that information. So that includes making inquiries, tying out the data to the evidence that we've obtained in the audit. Furthermore, in the financial statements, we present individual fund statements and schedules. So this is helpful to users of the financial statements to identify and drill down on specific funds of the county. So these specific funds and schedules will present the financial results of individual funds, the budget versus actuals, and statistical information of the county. Currently, we have a couple of findings related to the Medicare and Medicaid program that was tested as part of the compliance audit. Those were related to recertifications completed in the current year. These are repeat findings from previous audits. However, it's important to note that those findings did not result in any question cost in the current year, and those results have been uploaded to the Department of Health and Human Services. Lastly, we have a few adjusting journal entries. A majority of these current adjusting journal entries are related to the lovely presentation that the LGC makes us present in certain areas. So those adjusting journal entries are really just to make sure that the presentation is correct based on the template that the LGC puts forth for all municipalities in the state of North Carolina. Once we finalize the audit, we'll make sure that the finance officer has a complete listing of all these journal entries to ensure that the audit records, the accounting records match our audited financial statements. On Saturday 6, we discuss our required communications. Auditing standards require us to communicate certain items to governance, so that's you all. In this letter, we discussed any policy changes for the current year. The current year, there was a new accounting standard that was implemented. It is called GASB 87, and not to bore you with a ton of accounting jargon, this deals with leases and how we account for them. It basically moves leases from the ballot from the income statement to the ballot sheet. So those were some significant changes to the financial statements and we have to note that in our required communications to you all so you know that those items were significantly changed from the prior year. We also are required to communicate to you about the estimates. We review management's estimates and determine if they are reasonable. This time we have no issues with management's estimates. And we're also required to communicate any difficulties with management. We certainly had none over this past audit period. We had very helpful team members with us throughout the entire process. So I'm gonna move forward with some charts and graphs about the financial health and overall this whole condition of the county as of 630 2022. If you have any questions, Deering, looking over these numbers, don't hesitate to ask. So for most municipalities, the General Fund is going to be the largest governmental type fund. So here I am starting off with summarizing the general fund revenues and expenses over the past three years. The revenues are highlighted in the blue and the green and the expenses in green. It's important to note that it's common to have a timing difference where expenses are going to be greater than revenues in the general fund related to government type grants. However, you can see that the county has maintained net income over the past three years where revenues were greater than expenses, both in the 2022 year and the in the previous two years. On Sladnon is a chart that tracks the general fund balance and translating that into plain English. I like to remember that as the equity of the county, the county's net worth. What are we worth as of a certain date? And this graph correlates to what we saw in the previous slide showing that there was net income generated over the past three years. So that net income is adding to the county's net worth year over year. over a year. Oneslaid 10 is a pie chart with the breakdown of the general fund balance. So what makes up that county's net worth? I'll start with the smallest piece of the pie at 1% in yellow, which is the inventory piece. This is going to be non-spindable funds of the fund balance. Followed by the next little slice of the pot in green is 8%. This 8% represents the amount that is restricted. So that is going to be funds restricted set aside for federally seized assets, grants and projects, health, share of economic development, etc. The next two pieces of the path at 9% are represented in red and orange. So the red is going to be considered a sond. This is the balance that is set aside and appropriated for next year's budget. And then the other piece is actually a state calculated amount. There is a state statute that helps improve and maintain the fiscal health of governments in the state of North Carolina. And that is a stateated calculation that gets presented as a separate line item on the financial statements. Lastly, the biggest piece of the pie at 73 percent in Brown is the amount of the fund balance that remains unassigned as of 630 2022. Moving to slide 11, I've presented a calculation of the general fund balance as a percentage of expenditures. So this is basically just dividing that fund balance that we've been looking at by the total expenses of the general fund. This calculates how long the county could sustain operations if you were to liquidate all your assets. So this is going to be your capital assets, your accounts for C.O.W. all your cash. If you were just to liquidate that, how long you could sustain operations? Based on this calculation in 2022, you would be able to sustain about halfway through the subsequent year. And you can see that that calculation correlates with the net income and the increase in fund balance that we've been seeing on the previous charts. The next couple of slides will walk you through some of the revenue and expenses particularly for the general fund. In the general fund property taxes is the largest source of revenue and so I'm charting here just the analysis of those revenues recognized over the past three years and you can see that that has remained relatively consistent as well. The next revenue line item that I wanted to hone in on is the other taxes and licenses. This is considered the second largest source of revenue in the general fund, and that's going to include your local government's sales tax and other taxes and licenses. Again very similar to property taxes it's remained relatively consistent. That change from 2021 to 2022 was approximately about a million dollars. Sorry the scaling was just a little bit off but I didn't want to call that out but it was only about a million dollar change from the prior year. And then moving over to the expenses, this is a breakdown of expense categories in the general fund. So this is the major groups of expenses that are focused on in the general fund. And we've charted it from 2022 and 2021, 2022 being in the blue and orange representing 2021. Each of these expense categories have remained relatively consistent as far as their percentage of total expenditures from prior year to current year with public safety and human services being the largest expense categories in the general fund followed by the education expense category. Now we're going to move away from the general fund and briefly cover the business type fund. So similar to where we started on the general fund, tracking just the operating revenues and operating expenses year over year for those business funds. This is gonna be your airport commission, your water, your solid waste transportation. So showing here that the operating revenues for 2022 were greater than the operating expenses in 2022. So with that, we'd like to, you know, just hone in on a couple of key items. We do anticipate issuing the audit within 45 days after we have a final review done internally and we are able to complete our review of the schedule of state and federal expenditures. And it is really important to know that the financial statements will reflect a major accounting change for the leases that I talked about. So again, moving a lot of the expenses from the income statement to the balance sheet is really what that standard brings to light. No disagreements with management. We did have some difficulties encountered in obtaining some information from the predecessor auditor, particularly in regards to some of the accounting records and transactions not agreeing to the issued financial statements. So in our review process we do anticipate some possible additional journal entries to properly reflect those beginning balances. But I do want to make sure that it's noted that we did have complete cooperation for management during that process and trying to work through some of those issues and getting started and reviewing prior your financial statements. So the last slide has my contact information. If you're like me, I'm always, you know, after the presentation, I think of 10 different questions that should have asked. So I provide that to you all if you have any questions after the fact, but I'm also happy to answer any nail. All right, commissioners, questions? Comments? I would like to thank you. I appreciate the report, looks very good. Thank you. I appreciate the report looks very good. Thank you. All right, let's move in to item number three, Mr. Davis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I appear before you now to present my last proposed physical year spending plan for Dukeland County. We have the presentation up on the screen, but I'll be giving some information relevant to all of the charts and graphs that you'll see on the screen. Total proposed physical year, 2023-24, Dupin County budget is 98,797,410 dollars, which is broken down into two categories. First, the general fund. This is the fund that supports our general government operations across nine broad categories, including general government, public safety, environmental protection, human services, education, cultural, and recreational, as well as contributions and transfers and general county debt service. The total proposed for our general fund, operations in the upcoming fiscal year is 67,788,624. The other fiscal year 24 expenditures are broken down into 12 categories which total $31,313,786. These categories include the following. Emergency telephone fund which are funds held in reserve to support our E911 operations and this is used to purchase equipment to support our public safety answering point and mobile communication to support our public safety agencies throughout the county. This fund is budgeted at $232,975 in physical year 24. Next, we have the Capital Reserve Education Fund, or as we refer to it, Fund 22, which is sales tax proceeds which by statute must be set aside by the county for public education capital purposes. This coming fiscal year we are budgeting to collect $3,156,272 in this category. The fund will be used to pay a portion of the school system's debt service payment and for other capital expenditures for the school system including school buses and general repairs and upgrades to their buildings facilities and vehicle fleet. The Automation Enhancing Preservation Fund, this is the fund that is required to be set aside by the county from a portion of the proceeds collected by the registered deeds. To be held in reserve and expended on automation and preservation efforts and the registered deeds of us at the discretion of the elected registered deeds. In the upcoming physical year, our registered deeds, Miss Savage is budgeting to collect $20,600, which we are placing in a non-reverting fund. which we are placing in a non-reverting fund. Property Revaluation. We will also be setting aside $471,867 for the benefit of our property re-evaluation efforts managed and conducted by our Tax Administration Office. These funds are used to pay for software, salaries, and other expenses related to conducting the revaluation of property, which is mandated by North Carolina General Statute. Fire districts. The total funds budgeted to support our local fire volunteer fire departments in physical year 24 is $3,824,751. This includes the county contribution from the general fund to our volunteer fire departments which remains the same at $26,054 per in county department and smaller portions going to the three out of county departments which have service districts in Duke and County. In addition, it includes estimated revenues of approximately 1.2 million from the article 46 quarter cent sales tax which will be distributed equally to all county fire departments and pro-rated to the three out of county departments with service districts in the county. Finally it also includes the various fire district taxes collected by the county and distributed to the departments with a fire district service tax. Our debt service, physical year 24, budget to service our debts is $4,708,715. This includes the outstanding debt on the USDA loan on Dupland Commons, which includes both this, the lowest brick agricultural office building and the event center, as well as our local obligation bonds for past school construction projects. The water funds, the funds budget to support our water system in FY24 are $3,255,502. This includes operational cost and salaries, water fund debt service. The funds budget to service the debt of our water districts, as well as the Albracen BF Grady sewer project, is $982,719. Transportation, the budget for our public transportation department in fiscal year 24 is $1,395,257, which includes a combination of federal, state, and local funds. These funds are used for operational expenses, salaries, and capital expenditures. The airport. The airport's budget in the upcoming year is $1,463,281. These funds are expanded for operational costs, salaries, and also includes an appropriation from the general fund to support the airport. Solid waste. Our Solid Waste and Recycling Department budget in FY24 is supposed to be $4,640,697. The proposed budget does not include any change to our current household user fee nor the tipping fees. The monies will be used or expanded on operational call salaries and capital expenditures in our solid waste and recycling department. Insurance fund. This is the fund that is used to provide health insurance coverage for county employees and eligible retirees and is budgeted at $7,161,150 in FY24. I'm going to talk a little bit about the general fund. This slide illustrates how the recommended budgetary expenditures were balanced with a combination of estimated revenues and appropriation from our fund balance. Our estimated revenues for fiscal year 24 are 64,233,972 dollars. The fiscal year 24 tax rate is 71.5 per 100 dollars of assessed value plus 2% per 100 dollars of assessed value to be placed in a capital reserve fund for a total tax rate of 73.5 cent the estimated revenue generated by one cent of tax rate in the upcoming fiscal year is 472,537 dollars the fiscal year 2324 recommended expenditure or general fund budget of $67,483,624 is balanced with a total tax rate again of $73.5. The appropriation from the fund balance of the general fund is $3,249,652. It is an accepted practice to show an appropriation from fund balance to balance the budget. This practice has limited the amount of increase to the tax rate and or prevented unnecessary reduction in services available to our citizens and visitors. Each year we strive to hold down expenditures and not to use our savings. The amount we are budgeting from fund balance for the upcoming physical year is $495,856 or 18% more than was appropriated in the current fifth year. This is a significant increase in support of a request for funding from our Board of Education. for funding from our Board of Education. Okay, this slide illustrates some general fund budget highlights. Mandatory increases in retirement contributions. The county's mandatory increase in the percentage of its employees' salaries that must be remitted to the North Carolina local government employees' retirement system is increasing by 0.75% for non-law enforcement employees to 12.85% of their total salary and by 1% for law enforcement employees to 14.1% the percentage paid by employees remains unchanged at 6%. Increase the budgeted insurance cost. Health insurance premiums for individual employee coverage is budgeted at $10,637.16 per employee for fiscal year 24. This is an increase of $501.96 or about 4.9% per employee over what was budgeted in the current fiscal year. The county joined the North Carolina Health Insurance Pool or NCHIP. In fiscal year 21, this changes help the county to control employee health insurance calls by pooling costs with other local governments across North Carolina. We also endeavor to make any and all efforts to contain cost to our employee wellness program, which is proven very effective. The total recommended budget for providing employee and retiree health insurance, again, is $7,161,150. Snipegant increase to projected sales tax receipts and interest revenue. In fiscal year 24, we will be budgeting for a significant increase in sales tax revenue. In fiscal year 24, we would be budgeting for a significant increase in sales tax revenue. Thus far, in fiscal year 23, we have realized an estimated 26% increase in sales tax receipt over FY22. The county has not budgeted the increases in prior fiscal years due to the uncertain economic climate due primarily to COVID-19. The fiscal year 24 budget, however, accounts for the increase in estimated sales tax revenue collections. The county is also budgeting for an increase in interest earned over fiscal year 23 by $540,000. This is due to the fact that interest rates have risen, and our finance office has done a good job investing our reserves in order to maximize our returns. Capital request, our general fund capital outlay expenditures for fiscal year 24 are budgeted at $776,826, which includes equipment for our county garage, eight patrol vehicles for the Sheriff's Office, equipment for our E-911 Communications Division, a new ambulance for our emergency medical services department, a vehicle for the Department of Social Services, and seating replacements and a cooler at the event center. Increased and budgeted ad valorem tax by 2.45%. According to our tax administrator, Mr. Rose, the growth and the value of real property in the county since last year of approximately $116,822,325 is the modest increase of 2.45% over the current fiscal year. The total valuation of all property in the county, including real public service and vehicles is estimated to be $4,878,478,832. Increased educational funding. Contributions from the general fund to the Board of Education is recommended at $10,155. This represents an increase of $536,155 or about 5.7%. In addition, the county also gives the Board of Education capital funds for creation, in a matter of $250,000, and we also make a transfer from the General Fund for Debt Service of $1,582,967. Current expenses in capital outlay contributions to James Brown Community College have increased by $64,106 or about 3.2% over the current physical year. This shows some of our general fund revenues and I'll go over those briefly. Avivorm taxes increased this year by about 1.3% or $406,000. Departmental revenues are up by $287,000. Departmental revenue restricted is down, nominally, by about $94,000. Fund balance appropriation, as I alluded to earlier, is up because of an appropriation we are making to fund the Board of Education's request this year. Motor vehicle collections up, $435,000. The other revenue are down because some of the ARPA money was included in the budget last year and they were transferred over so we're not making that transfer again this year. That's why they're down sales tax up $2 million $617,347 or about 29% and state revenues are up $569,000 due to grant revenues. So overall, the revenues are up $735,717. General fund expenditures. Broken down by categories, the general government category is down by about $69,000. Public safety down by $50,000. Environmental protection is up about 6.3% or 54,000. Physical development, which is economic development and West Park, up only about $3,500, very nominal. Human services up $509,000 or about 3% educational funding for both the Board of Education and James Sprunk combined increased by $600,000. Cultural and Recreational is up by $92,000. The contributions and transfers is actually down and one reason that was driven down by about $ $92,000. The contributions and transfers is actually down. And one reason that was driven down by about $404,000 because last year we made a transfer to put a roof on the health department. That's been completed. That transfer will not be needed in the upcoming physical year. Debt services flat at $578,270. So our expenditures matching our revenues are up $735,717. This slide shows our ad-belorm tax history for the past five physical years, as well as the current proposed budget. The top line is the tax rate proposed for fiscal year 24, if adopted by the board will have remained unchanged for five consecutive fiscal years dating back to fiscal year 1920 at 73 and a half a cent. This year, one cent as I alluded to earlier on the tax rate would generate $472,537. The values used to generate our budget numbers, values used for real property are $4,117,781,907, which is up about $48 million. Public service or up about $8 million. And our motor vehicles up $59 million for a total increase of about $116 million or 2.45%. Property tax budget versus actual that's the Down about two thirds of the way Current year we are budgeting to collect $900,000 in prior year taxes and that has been the case for the past six physical years as well We are due to overcollect our real property by about half a million dollars this year over our estimates and we are also budgeting to or anticipating to overcollect what we had anticipated for motor vehicles by about a half a million dollars as well. Total collections from motor vehicles should be about 4.3 million in the upcoming fiscal year. This slide illustrates our sales tax estimates. Article 39 is the budget numbers are at the top for the past four fiscal years and the proposed budget. And at the top you'll see the budget numbers at the bottom, the see the budget numbers at the bottom the actual collections or receipts by the county from the sales tax. So Article 39 is the first sales tax you see up there that's one cent and has no restrictions all that money comes to the county. We're budgeting $4,314,352. The second article 40 is a 1-half-cent sales tax of which 70% comes to the county. 30% goes to the school system for capital improvements. We're budgeting $4,501,358. Article 42 is another half-cent sales tax. It is broken down 40% comes to the county. 60% the school system, they're again for their capital needs. another half-scent sales tax. It is broken down. 40% comes to the county, 60%. The school system, they're again for their capital needs. It's budgeted at $342,043. The next tax article, 44, has been repealed. Sales tax, article 44, 524 is 1 cent. And it goes for economic development, public education, and community college purposes that's budgeted at $2,189,705. So we are budgeting to collect in sales taxes in FY 24,11,347,458. We have over collected our sales tax in FY23 by $2,455,261. Our special revenue and enterprise funds, the emergency telephone fund, phone again goes to support our 9-1 operations and we're budgeting a Decree of about 48,000 dollars because we're not buying them quite as much equipment this year Capital reserve for education remains relatively flat it went up $1,999 to $3,156,272 to $3,156,272. AE&P Fund for the RESTOR Deeds Office is budgeted $20,600. Again, property revaluation is budgeted at $471,867. You see the next is our fire districts. $3,824,751. That's an increase of $549,000, $305, or about 16.8%. Debt service is up by $133,250, or about 2.9% to $4,708,715. The ARPA funds are not included in the budget this year, but we showed them because they were included in the budget. Last, the water funds, they're up about 5% or $157,000. Our transportation department's budget is up by 12% at $195,257. The airport budget is up significantly to $1,463,281 Solid waste departments budget is up 13% to $4,640,697 That includes some capital purchases a walking floor trailer and a rolloff truck And insurance fund as I alluded to earlier is up this year due to increases in our amount of money that we set aside to provide health insurance to our county employees and eligible retirees. Fund 22 is a school capital which are sales tax funds. The Board of Education request is $740,045 $45.00. We granted that request. Their debt service, $2,000,000, $16,000, $227.00. You'll see the estimated revenues and then the fund balance appropriation of $979,273.00. Fund 22 is school capital. It's the money that we give the Board of Education. So again, we're increasing their allocation this year by, or appropriation that is, by $536,155 or 4.75%. There's other monies that the county gives the Board of Education, which are shown on this chart here to purchase items such as vehicles equipment furniture. The total budget is $3,156,272. The total funding going to the Board of Education, $14,989,394. And then the debt service payment that we make is $3,995,945.76. I want to talk about some future budget goals. We, and I have advised the board that we need to continue to fund the capital improvement plan. And FY24 we are scheduled to complete the construction of our animal care control and adoption center for our animal services department. Also the public transportation department's new transit facility will be completed. We need to continue to maintain our vehicle fleets including replacement of public safety vehicles and continue to improve our facilities with upgrades to HVAC units, roofs and parking areas in addition to other facility needs. We need to plan for the construction of a facility to co-locate these services for the agent and the veteran services department here on the campus at Dupin Commons. I have included in my budget the cost to construct that facility. They have a $5 million budget. The capital reserve, the funding sources for that, capital reserve for aging has $30,670. We got a grant of funds from the State of North Carolina from the General Assembly in the amount of $2 million. Interest earned on a grant funds $35,394. The capital reserve fund, which was the 2 cent that is on the tax rate that has set aside for construction of facilities and upgrades. And all the capital purchases were estimating to use $2,084,203 funds that are left over in the this year's budget, plus what we anticipate collecting in fiscal year 24 and then an appropriation from the general fund of 849,733 Dollars and thus the facility will be Constructed and have no debt once it is completed now. I will point out that in The Senate budget there is another 1.5 million dollars for this facility that will come to Duke and County to help offset these cost. As you know, the state has not adopted their budget yet, so we don't know if those funds will come to fruition, but we are hoping so. Also, we are continuing to plan for the construction of a new detention center or jail for our Sheriff's Office. We have $21.3 million that was allocated to us from the North Carolina General Assembly to help with the construction of that facility. We will not know the total cost until the architects have completed their plans and brought it before the Board of Commissioners to be bid out. We need to continue to plan for our upcoming revaluation which our tax administrator tells me they're working diligently at doing. Now what's not included in the budget that we'll have to deal with probably in the coming months, positions at the Department of Social Services to handle and anticipate influx of cases due to Medicaid expansion. I believe Ms. Murrell asked for 13 positions. None were included in the budget. The state has provided funds in the state budget, which has not been adopted yet. But if the state budget goes as has been proposed, then the state would pay for all of those positions for the first year. However, again, I do not include those in the budget. We also, I did not include, at the Board's direction, two positions in our ENAWIWIN communications division due to an increase in coal volume. And also, I did not include any more positions in the Animal Services Department, despite the fact that they're open in their new facility, which will triple their capacity. Also not included in the budget is any COLA, will cost a living adjustment for county employees. What is included for personnel matters is we are, we have included an increase in the hourly wages of our elections poll workers and judges to help them recruit and retain qualified people to conduct our elections. We also include a special entry rate for our transportation public transportation departments transportation drivers to help them recruit and retain drivers which they are struggling to do And we also have increases for our environmental health specialists and our health department our health inspectors Due to their becoming registered as part of the career development plan That's all I have as far as the budget presentation mr. Chairman. I'll entertain any questions from the audience as I'm sure the board will as well. Okay, at this point, we open up the public comment. You're allowed three minutes. We want you to comment strictly on the budget. You know, that's what this is for. So please come to the podium, state your name, and you can comment on any item that towards the budget. I'm going to pass the letter. You said that this building right here was in the region. No, no, we still have a debt on the Dukeland Commons, which was for the event center and the lowest grade ag build. And it was financed for 40 years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the original loan was for $11 million. Can you tell me how much does this building generate and loaning it out, renting it out every year, and how much income did they do? I can, but not off the top of my head, Angela, but I would be glad to get those numbers for you and get them to you. I appreciate it. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma Next. My name is John Blackmore, I'm the Fire Chief for Warsaw Fire Department. Now, I was coming over here tonight, I was trying to decide what I was going to say or what I was going to do. And I did, first I was thinking about stomping my feet, screaming and hollering, beating the podium and even throwing bricks at you. But I figured if I did that, I'd wind up in jail, and that's really not an experience I wanted to have. But I did want to express my disappointment in the board and not granted the part of the increase in our property tax. This request was not a wonk. This was a very much need in this request, but I can ensure that people and the citizens of Warsaw State's brick fire district and Duke and county that fire department stands ready to serve them. Again I'm extremely disappointed. Thank you. Next. next. Good evening. Penny Thorn. And I just wanted to make a comment I heard that there won't be a cost. I'm not an employee of the county. So it doesn't affect me. But I do know that the county loses a lot of employees to other counties and other locations due to not taking care of their income and cost of living. So just maybe in the future, y'all would take that into consideration. In order to keep the people and the young people to come back to the county. We have to also invest in those people that live in our county. Next. Please come forward. We'd like to hear from you. One more call. I'm going to close the public here. Like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Rentson again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. Again, I appear before you this the purpose of this public here is required by General, Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. Again, I appear before you. The purpose of this public hearing is required by the General of the General Statute that the county hold a public hearing each year when they adopt a physical year budget or spending plan and they expend anything on economic development. So this presentation is very short. It's only one slide. Our fiscal year 2324 budget for salary and friends, you see there's $171,839 for operating expenses, $68,800. Incentives, $1,047,000. That's grants and incentives to our local businesses and the total budget proposed for the economic development department and economic development efforts within the county government is $1,287,639. Mr. Chairman, I stand ready to answer any questions that public or the board may have as well as Mr. Scottie Summoner or Economic development director. Okay I open the floor for public comments same as before you've got three minutes come forward state your name and ask your questions or speak your comments. All right. See in the body we will close the public comment time. Thank you. All right. I'll ask Mr. Brinston to come back for item number five. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I remember this is a board. I have here before you now to receive any road or highway concerns that you may have so that I can convey them to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for their attention. Very small item, but the north end of my road, the cattle signs come again. Last time it was the South End, but when it was put up, I went and worked on it a little bit myself and this time it didn't get it. Okay. I mean, put a log chain on that one, Mr. Chairman. The Willard Edwards Road at the North End. Yep, the North End is gone. Okay. Thank you. Do all the commissioners have anything? Highway 50. I'll write at the Kenan Zoo, see the limits there across from the water tower at the times. During a heavy rain, the side of Miss Kay Williams and Liz on, that water is flood night into the road, pounding on the highway, coming from the elementary school, trying to get to the creek. So it's pounding in that bottom there. Where it's deep branched. It says you come down that hill, that ditch, it's filled up, it just turns into ditch, the highway becomes the ditch. Okay. The water's running down the highway to let you get back into road ditch. All right. Any other board member have any concerns, road or highway? Okay, anybody from the public? I've had a couple of citizens in Purdue County. I think they misunderstood where they're at. On Wardridge Road, where Tar Heal Lane is out there, those triulars. I think that is all private. I don't think the town in the county hells, though the state hells over roads that goes back in there, but they're expressing how hard it is to get in and out of there. Even when the VMS has to go in there to pick somebody up as well as some other trailer park that is over on Rebel Road outskirts Warsaw as complained how bad the roads are to get in and out. Again, I believe these are private owned lanes in Northern Technical County. Yes, sir. Unfortunately, that is the case. And that's the case for a lot of our older mobile home parks across the county and our public safety agencies have to encounter every day. But it's incumbent upon the property owners to Make the upgrades and necessary improvements because the county has no funds to do that nor does the state keep up private Make made that colonized restaurant that the mayor wants our town Warsaw is the ETJ is only so far out Sure, thank you for bringing my attention to mayor and Bobby you have something. Yes So it is the ETJ is only so far out and we don't. Sure. Yeah. Thank you for bringing my attention to the mayor. And Bobby, you have something? Yes. In this meeting, sorry, when I was solo in Calcame, about the solo. Yeah, we'll discuss that in just a few minutes. Yes, we will, Bobby. That all the road concerns. All right. Thank you, Miss Chairman. All right, move on to item number six. Okay, thank you. Again, I appear before you and I have Miss Julia Johnson here. She's with the US DA Rule Development Water Environmental Programs Specialist and also have Miss Alicia Melton with us from North Carolina World Water Association. She is a technical assistance manager and they're going to be a systemee with this presentation and to answer any of the board's questions regarding this matter. I come before you to request permission to make an application to the United States Department of Agriculture for a special evaluation assistance and rural communities and households or search grant. Permission to make application for the search grant is being made in an effort to support an initiative that is being undertaken to help seek ways to provide the Calico Bay and East Laudcabin Road areas.U. with a safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater systems. The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Collaboration with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality are assisting Dupin County with a new opportunity called Closing America's Wastewater Access Gap, and it is a Community Pilot Initiative. Let me tell you a little bit about the program. Earlier this year, the EPA and USDA partnered to provide technical assistance to rural communities with wastewater challenges, i.e. failing septic systems, and disadvantaged communities to help them overcome these challenges. What is the goal or the initiative? It's to help historically underserved communities identify and pursue federal funding opportunities to address their wastewater needs. Now, how do we hope to achieve this goal? The EPA and the USDA will provide an in-depth community wastewater assessment as well as prepare a solutions plan for pilot communities to use as a tool to apply for federal funding opportunities that are available. The solutions plan will outline the wastewater treatment options including design and estimated cost. The initiative is piloted in 11 places across the southern region of the country that have demonstrated significant need with Dupland County being one of those selected pilot locations. Why? The bipartisan infrastructure law presents an historic opportunity to invest in communities that leverage existing federal infrastructure programs to address wastewater infrastructure needs and underserved communities. Aging wastewater infrastructure is the health risk to families and impacts economic growth. This initiative presents an opportunity to bolster public health and economic development through community engagement. Part of the solutions plan that we will eventually receive will include pathways to funding the needed infrastructure as I stated earlier. Now I'm going to turn this over to Julia and she's going to tell you a little bit more about the search grant that we are asking the board to approve tonight. Good evening. Thank you. Thank you, County Manager, and commissioners. I appreciate the opportunity to share with you tonight just a little bit of how we would like to help. As Mr. Branson said, this is an initiative between USDA and EPA. And what I'm speaking to you about is a potential starting point for trying to get to the point of what type of funding can be done on the two projects that we're trying to serve in DuBois County. The search grant is particularly a USDA grant. It is a grant. It is a program that helps small, financially distressed communities, rural communities pay for pre-development cost for water and wastewater systems. The search grant is specifically for communities that has a population of 2500 or less. And it's also for communities that have a median household income that is either below the poverty line or below 80% of the state MHI. The reason for approaching the county tonight about doing the application for the search grants is to try to get to a point that we can develop a preliminary engineering report and an environmental report that's gonna be needed for any type of funding, whether that's state funding, whether that's federal funding. And so the search grant will allow the county to pay cost associated with those pre-development costs. It is a grant and it will be paid to a North Carolina licensed engineer that will use the assessment that's being developed through the initiative as well as the solution plan that's being developed with the initiative. Again, though, to have any funding toward any potential project, you've got to have some type of preliminary engineering report. And so that's why we're coming to the county tonight to see if the county is willing to do that and assist for the two areas within your county that's associated with the initiative. So there is not a match. It is a grant. And it does cover the cost. And the way this grant works is you have to have a North Carolina license engineer that will develop a preliminary engineer report and an environmental report according to error guidelines. And then once that is developed and presented to us, and we see that it's in the format that's needed, those grant dollars will be used to pay the engineer. Okay, so I know Commissioner Branch has been intimately involved with this project. I don't know if he wants to say anything about it as well or initiative, but it's a grant to help us pay the engineers to do the reports. And then they're going to tell how much it's going to cost and what's feasible. And then the USDA will help identify funding sources outside of the county. Flash is DPA. DPA. And USDA, through that initiative, a part of the solution plan is trying to identify what funding sources, whether that's USDA, whether that's EPA, whether that's state funding to try to get to a potential project and the feasibility of a potential project in the two areas that we're looking at. I would like to say that this initiative is such that it was a time back where we almost had the sewer in a position to support the citizens in the Calico Bay, Monk Avenue Road area, and some things at the end of the day did not come together to support the endeavor. So we're coming back at it in a different way to truly involve the citizens. We've had a couple meetings to talk about what their thoughts are as pertains to the deeds in the area. And I would like to thank Miss Kenan, that's Denise Kenan, that's with us this evening, the law of Kevin Road area and Mr. Bobby James, the Calico Bay area. And the point and the end of the day, there's the initiative is trying to get funding so that the cost that may be passed along or the cost that will be passed along to the citizens in the area. It's not such that it's not beneficial in there and they're not able to meet that. So there's a lot of legwork that's taking place so that we can ultimately figure out exactly what's what and how we need to go about it with the Wallace town and Teach Your Township as well as the county coming together in a joint effort to meet this need. So we have to do things on the front end to make sure that everything we're speaking about is adequate, accurate, and supportive of what's going to be achieved as well as where the citizens are in this area. So that's why we've expressed in this time to make certain that everybody's informed. It's clear transparency and hopefully at the end of the day we'll be able to complete the mission so that those citizens can get what is necessary and needed to have a more comfortable and adequate life. Thank you. This time I'd entertain a motion to authorize the County Manager to take an application to the USDA for a special evaluation assistance for the rural community and household grant in order to support the initiative that is bringing undertaken to help seek ways to provide for the Calico Bay and East Laudcabin Road area outside of teaching. So moved. I got a motion. I need a second. Second. I got a motion and a second further discussion Okay I'm familiar with the Calico Bay area What township say the sewer lines or put in what township would have would be obligated to handle sewer lines or put in what township would be obligated to handle? That's a great question, Commissioner Edwards. And it would be the town of Wallace, because they have excess sewer capacity. But as far as where it would, where whether it would be municipal sewer, or whether it would be funds to help these homeowners have cluster systems where a few houses would go together and have a system just to provide sewer service or septic service for those houses or whether it would be to construct individual mails to build up the septic systems for individual homeowners. Those are some of the three options that have been identified already. So yes, municipal sewer may be one of the options, but there are several options that the engineers are looking at. So what they're going to do, they're going to do a study to see what is most cost effective and feasible in the area. But if it is municipal sewer, it will have to come out of the town of Wallace, and they have been involved in some of the conversations that we've had, because they're the closest, teachers does not operate their own sewer system. They, um, Wallace processes their sewer and Wallace has access capacity to handle the sewer. That's a great question. Other comments? I got one more. Okay. Do you know how many homes are involved in there? I'm going to have to at least answer that one. the other questions. Before I bring it to the vote, I just like to say that you know I appreciate the effort that's been put forward because as Mr. Brank said we were almost there one time before but if I remember correctly the cost of it turned out to be non feasible that the people couldn't afford it. So this is a different approach. I hope it works and with, I'm going to ask for vote. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same side. I think it carried your nanoshoes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Julie. Mr. Chairman, at this point I'd like to handle the add-on item. Yes, please do. Our information technology department is in need of replacing two disaster recovery servers on which the warranty is ending and it's not there no longer service. The servers were purchased back in 2018 so they're now five years old. The servers are outdated and in need of more space. The warranty and support service will be ending on June 30th, 2023. These servers are extremely important to the county as they are part of a strategic procedure in our backup environment and improve recovery time in the event of a disaster. One of the on-site backups is located in the administrative building in Kenensville. The other is off-site and it is located at the Wayne County 9-1-1 Communications Facility which also houses our backup E9-1-1 Center or Peace App. Without these servers the county could suffer from crucial data loss, reduced, reduced, I'm sorry, productivity and longer recovery times. The cost of the two servers are approximately $17,850 and 30 cent each for a total of $35,700 and 60 cent. They have the money in their budget. It's in their maintenance and repairs budget that they have not spent this year. So they're requesting that they board approve the purchase of the two disaster recovery servers and that you approve the associated budget amendment to move the funds to make the purchase. I have Mr. Haring here, who's our IT director, who'd be glad to answer any technical questions that you have. Pleasure to board. Much too approval. I got a motion. I need a second. Second. Second. I got a motion in a second. Further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same side. Curied. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the members of the board. All right. That brings us to item number seven. Miss Melissa Kennedy. Good evening. Good evening. I'm here to hold the public hearing for Caitlin Scholar to name a lane at the 150 block of Doorwood Evans Road. Why orchard lane? Okay I open the floor. Why orchard lane? Okay, I open the floor. Public here. Just go to any comments you may have towards naming this lane. Here in none, I close the here, back to you, Mr. Lisson. Okay. I need a motion to approve the request to name this lane on 150 block. There would have been dreaded. Line stones down, chip. Got a motion. That's a second. Got a motion in a second. I'll then favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Carry. Thank favor say aye. All opposed same side. Carry. Thank you, Melissa. All right. That loses the item number eight. Ms. Jazz. Good evening, everyone. Good evening everyone. I'm Jasmine Gasman and I'm the Director of Board of Elections. Here with me tonight I have Mr. Neil Bedore from the State Board of Elections as well as two of my office staff Ms. Evelyn Tuen, Carrie Savalan and all five members of my board. Back in October of 2022, the US Department of Homeland Security, of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure conducted an assessment at the Dupland County Board of Elections Office to propose any identification of any threats that we possibly have. Based on the assessment conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, the Dupland County IT Department requested a quote from Secure Lock for the installation of various electronic entry-controlled devices, physical barriers, and electronic system security systems to provide video surveillance for, I'm sorry, surveillance of activities both on the interior and exterior of the facility. The cost to install the Paxson door access controls, cameras, door hardware and various computer technology required to support the system is going to cost about $18,350. I mean, $50. The Board of Elections has the funds in its department's budget to cover the cost of the security upgrades. It is allowed, if the money is allowed to be transferred from the LAPS salary funds. Also tonight my board has added some additional things that they would like. One thing is a panic button for the front desk where Miss Evelyn sits because we do have some crazy that come in our office as well as they ask for a bullet proof window at the front desk as well. Mr. Davis, do you have anything to add? Thank you, Jasmine. I don't have anything to add other than the fact that we did not price out the bulletproof glass with a panic button I'm sure the panic button would probably be relatively inexpensive But when you talk about bulletproof glass we'll need to come back to you guys with that because that gets pretty pricey All right, I'd entertain a motion motion to prove Some move I got a motion, a second, open up for discussion. 18300 is everything except for the bulletproof glass and the paint button. Right. Do we have any idea what that may cost? The planning button would probably be relatively inexpensive. Frank, do you have any idea less than $500? 100 bucks or so. But the bulletproof glass I'll let Tracy speak to that. We did install that at the Sheriff's Office. The glass alone, you know, is what yours knows about $1500 for that front plate. And plus the installation that it can't be done. And that may be something we did include in the new fiscal year because the glass at the time took about $20 million. But it's something manageable. A deaf commissioner, I would definitely think we could work But it's something that you don't. I'm a debt commissioner Edwards. I definitely think we could work panic button in within the budget allocation that you see before you and within their existing budget. Now I can't say that about the bulletproof class, but I like Ms. Chestnut alluded to. We can look at that in the next fiscal year's budget, if you like force to. So if I'm reading the message, what you're afraid of is the bulletproof class will carry on beyond the amount of money they've got available. Yes, sir. Okay. Could possibly. So if we could just take a vote on the motion before you, as written in your agenda packet, and then we'll work with Ms. Getson to get her panic button packet and then we'll work with Miss Getson to get her panic button and then we'll work with her and in her upcoming physical year budget to start working towards the proof glass because as Miss Chestnut alluded to it does take some time to get that. Plus we've got to line up contractors for the installation. Okay. I just want to make clarity for the motion in a second. Before we vote, the motion is to approve the insulation of the security mechanisms that she spoke to earlier in her request in for the 18300 adding the panic button and that's what the motion is for. Correct? Second. Okay. The further discussion. Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Got it. Pass. Thanks. All right. All opposed same side got it past thanks all right that brings to item number nine Miss Scott it miss sir Scott is simulin please come forward I didn't I say mail Good evening Again, thank you for your time On behalf of our Economic Development. As I was very bored, as always, we thank you for your support. And my reason for being here tonight is, again, I'd like to first apologize for the delay in coming back. But the silver lining is, I think that with this lease agreement, it's been reviewed several times. But I'm here tonight to ask for the approval of James Brown Community College. And this would be for the remaining section of the Space, the county-owned building, out on the New Grant Road at Westport section B. I think most everybody, or probably the board members know, that James Brunt has a presence at that location. And I'd say if you hadn't had an opportunity to see it, you really need to put your eyes on it. We're talking about the space that is beside the diesel mechanic school, also the CDO training. They've recently included a lineman's certificate that includes CDO training. And what we're proposing tonight is for James Brunt to utilize the remaining 6,000 square feet that was vacated some time ago. Muscatine natural and the space has been vacant and they would like to use it for workforce development training and I'd answer any questions that you may have, but I'm asking for the board to consider or approval of that lease for that remaining 6,000 square feet on Piny Grant's road. Pleasure to board. So moved. I got a motion, I need a second. Thank you. Got a motion in a second, further discussion? What part of the building nor the lease is the last time I was out there, there was a year. The kitchen was occupied. The kitchen is still occupied. It is. The kitchen is actually leased by James Prink Community College. There's 13 active users of that space. The Center is also a police James Prink Community College for the Small Business Center. And within that, they've got a computer lab in a classroom, as well as a few other ancillary offices that they use. And then they'll be moving, hopefully, with your blessings into the third portion of that facility. A lot personally think it's a great idea because I think workforce development will add benefit to our county. Absolutely. But after this there will be no private businesses on facilities. Yes sir that's correct. That's correct. Yes sir. Father discussion. Here in the nun all in favor say aye. All opposed same side. Carry. Thanks. That moves us to item number 10. Yes sir. I'll thank you again for your attention and your time and again, I always love bringing great news, good news. And I know we've been talking the four or five months that I've been here in probably a couple years prior to that. Or at least a year prior to that, the further development of airbark. And we're now requesting the board's consideration to move forward with the initial construction aspect of it. Phase one would be the clearing and grubbing of approximately 5,000 feet of corridor that will eventually house the road and dear access roads that the state and representative Dixon, Senator Chauley, Senator Rint Jackson was able to acquire for us but at least initially were just asking for the board's consideration to advertise for Bids for phase one which is going to be that clearing and road being aspect. That will not build a roadway, but it will do a little bit of a hint of grading, but more so the removing of the trees and the stumps to make way for the roads, the water, the sewer and all the communications that will follow with a later advertising for being in contract to come. Pleasure to board. I should do a pretty second. You got a motion in a second for the comments? I have a question. What are the guidelines on that remove on that stuff in the grub? Do you know? I do not know our engineer. I'm asking guys, I assume it being so close to the airport, you couldn't burn stump piles. I mean, I'm just assuming. Well, we're actually, our engineer's helping us deal with that right now. I hope that we are going to be able to burn on site. And I think we are. I would say a lot of money. Sir, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I had talked, I made some initial contacts hoping that we can instead of having cost involved to remove it, that it could be used for chipping or burning, add some of our other locations, but it turns out that so far that hasn't proved fruitful. So option B is to burn, and then lastly, well you know what happens if you can't burn it has to go to the landfill which we do not anticipate. As you say it would be very costly. Any further questions? I would like to say one other thing. That be it. Would your approval will be available and again, Parrish and Partners is the engineering firm that's helping us with that. And again, parish and partners is the engineering firm that's helping us with that. That will be in the newspapers shortly. Would you approval? And also if anybody is interested, they could call our office and we could pass on the information to make a bid on that if anybody is interested. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask who made the motion whose second I couldn't care about. Motion second. Got it. Further discussion? Here you are none, all in favor say aye. All opposed, same side, carried. All right, Mr. Branson. Thank you, sir. Thank you, back up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I don't have any announcements tonight, but I would like for the Board to go into close session for legal matters for certain Northern China General Statute 143-318-118-3 and also for personnel matters for certain Northern China General Statute 143-318-118-6. All right, it entertain a motion to go out of open session into close session. I've got a motion and a second. Further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All right. We're officially going into closed session. Thank you all for attending tonight. Appreciate participation.