Brunswick County budget holds the line on taxes, focuses resources on schools, public safety
BOLIVIA, N.C. –The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners adopted a FY 2013-14 budget Monday that holds the line on taxes while focusing resources on critical areas such as education and public safety.
“This budget holds the line on taxes while directing taxpayer dollars toward education, public safety and other top priorities,” said Commissioner Phil Norris, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. “This budget also includes funding for technology upgrades that will increase efficiency and improve the security of our county’s critical data.”
Highlights of the general fund budget include:
- Maintains current tax rate of 44.25 cents
- 44.3% of 2013 tax levy used for education
- 18.3% of 2013 tax levy used for public safety
- Fund balance appropriation of $3,989,519 for non-recurring capital appropriations; no fund balance appropriated for recurring expenditures
- Funds appropriated to improve the county’s technology infrastructure, which will improve efficiency and strengthen data security
- Capital improvement plan for general government includes funding for needed HVAC and roof replacements, C& D Landfill costs and a 911 center expansion.
According to the county’s calculations, an estimated 72% of the general fund budget is used to fund departments or programs that are required or funded by the state or federal government.
Additionally, the county’s enterprise funds for water and sewer continue to expand to meet increasing demand. The county currently serves 34,823 water customers and 11,685 sewer customers. The water fund budget for FY 2013-2014 is $21,114,466, which includes a transfer to the capital project fund of $3,350,000. The wastewater fund is $21,397,803, which is a 6.1% increase over the FY 2012-2013 original budget primarily due to moderate increases in collection costs associated with the Calabash and Sunset Beach systems and the acquisition of the Ocean Isle Beach Plant.
The adopted budget and the county manager’s budget message will available on the county’s website later this week.