It's official - Craig Honeycutt is moving to Alamance.

The 43-year old Laurinburg city manager officially accepted the position as Alamance County manager and was introduced by the board at an Alamance County meeting on Monday.

"It is very bittersweet at this moment," Honeycutt said. "I love this community and we have invested a lot as a family but it was such a wonderful opportunity... These types of opportunities don't come along very often."

Honeycutt added that he was fortunate to have been chosen for the post.

He said his resignation from the city is planned for April 3.

"Hopefully that will let us get through at least the first draft of the city budget, Honeycutt said. "I wanted to give us enough time to wrap up some things."

The city manager said his family won't come right away.

"We're over halfway through the school year," Honeycutt said "My wife is a teacher's assistant. They are going to stay through the end of school and baseball season. We'll probably look at moving up as a family in early to mid July."

Honeycutt is expected to start his position on April 6 at a salary of $112,000 a year, plus a $3,000 vehicle allowance.

His current salary is $98,606 with a vehicle allowance of $450 a month.

Chairman Linda Massey said he was hired because the commission believe he will do a good job for Alamance.

"I think he is very capable," Massey said. "I am pleased with [him] and hopefully everyone else will be pleased with [him]."

"He has promised me he would do a good job," Massey added.

Massey said that Honeycutt has some big projects waiting for him.

"We have a $10 million dollar project that we just started to refurbish our courthouse," Massey said.

She also said the budget was going to be difficult this year because of the recession.

Honeycutt was offered the job on Feb. 6 by a unanimous vote of the board, just hours after Honeycutt completed the last round of interviews, along with Tim Burgess, interim county manager for Alamance.

When Honeycutt begins his new job, Burgess will return to his old post as assistant county manager.

Honeycutt has been the city manager of Laurinburg since Aug. 29, 2005. He also served as Fletcher city manager for 12 years.

A native of Aberdeen, Honeycutt graduated from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke before getting his master's from Western Carolina University.

The budget for Alamance County is $147.68 million with a general fund of nearly $130 million. The county has 850 employees to service a population of over 145,000.

The budget for the city of Laurinburg is $32.1 million with a general fund of $7.3 million. The city has 150 employees to serve a population of under 15,000.