Revenues are down in Randolph County, making for a difficult budget season.
Officials say sales tax collections are about 5% lower than last year. Between that loss and other revenue declines, County Manager Zeb Holden says this has been one of the hardest budget years yet.
“We obviously have not been able to fund everything we would like to fund, and really looking at recurring dollars, they just are not there," he said.
The recommended budget prioritizes 2% raises for county employees. Public safety is the biggest expenditure, with education following behind. The two school systems and the community college did not get the full funding they’d asked for.
Officials say it would take a nine-cent tax increase to meet every department’s request. They’re not proposing that, but budget documents state that the county will need to consider raising property taxes in the future to maintain critical services.
The county will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on June 8.