With the start of a new calendar year, local governments in North Carolina are preparing for their budget workshops – sifting through millions of dollars in tax payer money and public institutional needs ahead of the statewide, July 1 deadline.
A major feature of many local budgets are CIPs – Capital Improvement Plans – which focus on building and equipment needs for individual departments.
Ahead of recent meeting of the Pitt County Board of Commissioners, department heads submitted wish lists to be added to the 5 year CIP.
Chris Thomas has this.
On Dec. 19, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners held their Capital Improvement Plan meeting. These meetings set the foundation for public parks, new school facilities, and updated emergency operation systems.
At the gathering, county representatives also gave updates on projects already in progress, including a $1.8 million renovation and construction project at the Pitt County Animal Shelter and a $5.6 million upgrade for emergency services communications.
“Educational facilities for the community college and the K-12 public school system – everything from facilities to renovations is always big ticket items on their list.”
D. Scott Elliot, county manager for Pitt County.
“Other departments within the county – public safety, whether we’re talking about a new, consolidated sheriff’s administrative office space. Our parks and recreation arm of county government through a cooperative agreement with Pitt County Schools through their communities and schools programs were asking for a $5.6 million gymnasium, recreation facility out of the Alice Keen Park.”
Scarcity is always a factor but Elliot says department heads understand there’s a “pecking order” in place. Public safety, economic development, infrastructure, and recreation are high on the list but due to size and demand, they usually come after the needs of Pitt County Schools and Pitt Community College.
“Education is one on that list…most likely, even when resources are scarce are probably going to go to that priority unless there’s some federal or state mandate that’s causing our attention to be diverted elsewhere…”
Approved CIPs from this fiscal year total more than $35 million, mostly from tax payers by way of bonds and money already held in a general or departmental fund balance.
“We have a +$220 million annual operating budget. The CIP is one major component of it compared to our operating budget that deals with the salaries and other operation costs of the organization. The CIP is kind of handled…apart because (it’s) almost too much to do at one time with the limited resources and staff we have.”
The aforementioned gym at the Alice F. Keene District Park falls under recreation but overlaps with education since it is part of a nearly 40-year-old partnership with the public school system, using their facilities to host county recreation programs – including youth sports and senior games events.
The park’s namesake, Alice Keene, has been a part of that partnership from the start.
“We’re out of space [laughter] basically.”
She said the gym has always been part of the recreation program’s vision but rapid, recent population growth has forced the issue. Between the 2000 and 2010 Census, Pitt County grew by 25 percent and the latest estimates have the county’s population just under 180,000 people.
“Even for the programs that we currently are operating such as volleyball and basketball are two are two big youth sports but with our senior games program we have 10, senior games, three-on-three basketball teams – five ladies’ teams and five men’s teams. And they would really love to be able to practice a couple of evenings a week. But we don’t have the gym space.”
The proposed gym would be 24,000 square feet and though it wasn’t the most expensive departmental request for the next fiscal year, it was the most discussed at the meeting. While most commissioners expressed support for the gym, District 4 representative Mark W. Owens asked county departments to flesh out their plans, referring specifically to the proposed gym at the Keene Park.
“I try to read what we got here and I see guess work. I see projections. I see concepts. But I don’t see anything to back it up.”
The gym has been on the CIP “wish list” cue in multiple years. At the Dec. 19 meeting, Owens asked his colleagues to reconsider their priorities – citing unfinished projects at the Pitt County Detention Center and the gym’s impact on taxpayers.
Funding source for the gym was listed “to be determined” according to official county documents.
“I’d like for you to be able to project for me totality of this cost, where it’s going to come from, how much you’re going to have to raise taxes to give it, who you’re going to have to raise taxes on to give what to whom…”
Like all other items – including a multi-million dollar building consolidation plan for the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office – they’ll be up for discussion again Jan. 23 at the commissioner’s next workshop. More refined proposals are expected to be presented.
It will be the next step toward July 1 – the due date for all county budgets in North Carolina.
I’m Chris Thomas.