The Scotland County Board of Commissioners approved Tuesday a $54M spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Commissioners Tim Ivey, John Alford, Bo Frizell and Darwin Williams voted in favor while commissioners Darrel “BJ” Gibson, and Whit Gibson voted against it. Commissioner Clarence McPhatter was not present for the vote.
Discussions get tense amid approval of $54M budget
LAURINBURG —After a spirited discussion, the Scotland County Board of Commissioners approved Tuesday a spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, but the decision was not unanimous.
Commissioners Tim Ivey, John Alford, Bo Frizzell and Darwin Williams voted in favor of the General Fund budget proposal of $54,821,549, while commissioners Darrel “BJ” Gibson, and Whit Gibson voted against it. Commissioner Clarence McPhatter was not present for the vote.
The point of contention was whether or not to go back on the board’s agreement to allocate $10 million to the Scotland County Schools district and instead allocate an amended $9.8 million, which reflects a 2% decrease. This would make way for a 2% Cost of Living Adjustment for county employees.
“That still balances the budget and we are doing better for our employees,” said Ivey after making the motion to approve the budget and allocating the adjusted $9.8 million to the school district.
The idea to cut back on the school funding originated from Commissioner Alford, who said he never supported the $10 million allocation because the board had yet to see budget figures at the time of the agreement.
“I voted against when we approved the $10 million … I’ve been around long enough to know that we were going to be in trouble this year … We have 200 line items that need to be funded and you’re going to give one entity 40% of the funding,” Commissioners Alford said.
Commissioner Whit Gibson said he did not “disagree with one thing” Alford said but that he was still in support of the $10 million amount because he “told that group that I would do that.”
“For me, it’s a matter of principle,” Whit Gibson said.
Whit Gibson acknowledged that public education in North Carolina will be facing some struggles with state funding in the near future.
“I don’t think there’s a more difficult job in this county than being a member of the Board of Education,” he said.
“Going forward we should have a better understanding before we meet with them (Scotland County Schools Board of Education) where we stand financially with the upcoming fiscal year … Our biggest asset, to me, for our county is the employees. Our kids and our students in Scotland County are our future. This is a very sensitive and touchy situation,” Commissioner Williams said.
Frizzell said a move made by the school board changed his feelings on allocating the agreed amount.
“We’re asking our people to cut-, freeze positions, cost of living, drop the cost of living. We were even talking about taking the 401(K) … What makes this thing bad, is that the school board added three new positions … We’re putting off police cars, we’re putting off ambulances, things that save people’s lives,” Frizzell said.
“I do support education but I feel like if they hadn’t added the three new positions, I’d feel a little better about it. That was really a slap in the face to all our county employees,” Frizzell continued.
Speaking as a department head, a county employee, and a Scotland County resident, Robert Sampson, Scotland County’s Public Safety director told commissioners about the struggles county employees face and will face with the budget restraints.
“This has been a tough year as a county employee … The stress that we have been under this year to satisfy the needs of this board has been extreme …” Sampson said.
Sampson said he’s been in the emergency room because of the stress that has been placed on him as a department head.
“We were given a number back in February, March for us as department heads to use to operate our departments,” Sampson said. “We as department heads knew immediately we did not have the funds to operate our departments efficiently so that we could provide the services that we are required to provide.”
Sampson said despite the restraints, they were still asked to cut funding an additional 10%.
“We knew that we couldn’t operate the original number and then we were asked to cut an additional 10%,” Sampson said.
Sampson said that every department head he has spoken to has expressed concern about not having the funding needed to operate their departments.
“That is the reality and that’s where we are as a county,” Sampson said. “I cannot sleep at night knowing that I am potentially fixing to be put in a position as a department head, that I’m going to have to serve these citizens of this county and provide the same level of service that I’m expected to provide without the proper funding that I need.”