Politics

Commissioners adopt $117 million budget

By Bill Moss, Published: June 2, 2014

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Monday adopted a $117 million budget, setting aside for now a $400,000 question about the county's share of state-mandated teacher pay raise.

"There is a lot of uncertainty, particularly what's going to happen in Raleigh as far as the pay we're going to have to match and what kind of resources we might gain to offset some of it," added Commissioner Grady Hawkins. "There's just too many unknowns out there."
While the county could get socked with a large bill to match a teacher pay increase — a projected $389,000 based on the Senate's 11 percent pay raise proposal — the county could see changes on the revenue side, Hawkins said. A bill that the state House has passed would amend how lottery proceeds are distributed and result in $1 million a year more for Henderson County, he said.
The no-new-taxes budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 fully funds the request from the School Board at $23 million. It also fully funds the Flat Rock Playhouse's request, at $50,000, and funds numerous other non-profit agencies. It also  commits the county to starting work on a 75,000-square-foot health sciences building on the Pardee campus to be shared by Wingate University, BRCC and Pardee Hospital. The county plans to borrow money for the project, pledging lease payments from Wingate and Pardee to meet debt service.
Although County Manager Steve Wyatt recommended delaying the budget adoption until June 25, the board decided to go forward with the adoption. Commissioner Tommy Thompson objected to the delay to a date when he will be out of town.
"If that's the way they want to pass the budget, I would hope that we would have a meeting on the 18th that's regularly scheduled," he said. "I've had a plan going the last seven months."
The commissioners agreed, and went ahead with the budget vote.
In one other change, the board increased the allocation for the Heritage Museum by $10,000. Counting a $90,000 appropriation from the county Tourism Development Authority, the museum would receive $100,000 in county funding in 2014-15.
Flat Rock Playhouse Managing Director Hillary Hart and Playhouse Board of Trustees member Robert Danos thanked the board for funding the theater's request of $50,000.
"No. 1 as we now know by a third party, the TDA, which contracted another third party, the Berkeley Young group, the Playhouse brings in more overnight tourists, which is the gold standard in tourism spending, than any other tourism entity in Henderson County," Danos said. "It is the King Kong of travel and tourism in Henderson County and we need to make sure it stays that way."