City budget passes in painful process

Commissioner Hutchens criticizes special appropriations procedure

Tom Joyce | The News

Officials in Washington had their debt ceiling battles this week, which were mirrored locally with a 4-1 budget vote by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners that innocent bystanders might agree was even more excruciating to watch.

City budget decisions most often boil down to heated discussions about whether the property tax rate or water-sewer charges should be increased or not — which weren't issues this year.

However, Thursday's night's budget approval was dominated by what has become a familiar controversy locally: special appropriations to outside agencies such as the Surry Arts Council, Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, public library and Mount Airy Rescue Squad.

Commissioner Chad Hutchens went so far as to suggest that the controversy had resulted from communication and other problems between the city government and those entities.

"We have to have a different process," Hutchens said, which he added should’ve included the four being notified in advance about potential cuts to their programs to avoid surprises.

In the end, present funding levels were restored to the Surry Arts Council and others — but it certainly wasn't easy, with related debates and a series of votes dominating the nearly two and a half-hour session.

This including Hutchens having to abstain twice from voting on funding approvals involving the Mount Airy Rescue Squad and leaving the room, since he sits on the squad's board of directors.

That was done on the advice of counsel, City Attorney Hugh Campbell, to address that conflict of interest on Hutchens’ part.

Overall budget vote

Almost lost in the shuffle Thursday night was the decision on the 2023-2024 municipal budget itself, which will go into effect on July 1.

While there were no tough decisions to be made on property tax or utility rates, Commissioner Deborah Cochran did cast the lone dissenting vote on the annual spending plan. Cochran explained that she had problems with some of the fees it included for various services to municipal residents.

At the start of Thursday night's meeting, board members were poised to adopt a balanced general fund budget totaling $17,037,075 in expenditures/revenues.

The property tax rate for 2023-2024 will remain at 60 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, along with water-sewer charges also being unchanged.

Yet the prospect of higher utility rates being imposed at some point during the next fiscal year was raised Thursday night, when city Public Works Director Mitch Williams said that costs of chemicals used to treat water had risen about 40 percent due to inflation.

Neither Mount Airy's property tax rate nor utility charges have been hiked since June 2018.

Special appropriations

Oh, and then there were those special-allocation requests to the city government, which ended up being approved and added to both the present year's and next year's budget — with updated official totals reflecting those tweaks not immediately available.

The preliminary city budget, when released in early May, proposed funding of $3,750 for the rescue squad, $5,000 for the museum, $43,750 to the Surry Arts Council (plus $32,750 for maintenance) and $51,825 for the library (plus $60,750 for maintenance). (The latter facilities occupy city-owned buildings.)

That was less than the funding levels approved for the present fiscal year ending on June 30, including $103,650 for the library, $87,500 for the arts group, $10,000 to the museum and $7,500 for the rescue squad.

The proposed cuts led to citizens packing council chambers for a required May 18 public hearing on the budget, which included more than 20 people expressing opposition to those reductions.

Fast-forwarding to Thursday night's meeting, Commissioner Marie Wood relayed a key development occurring of late which affected the funding potential for the four outside agencies.

This involved a decision by officials of Mount Airy Museum of Regional History to return $325,000 to the municipality which had been targeted for installation of a sprinkler system at the museum for fire suppression.

Cory Stewart, who chairs the governing board of that facility, explained in a letter to City Manager Stan Farmer that museum officials "had not prepared for the logistics of such an undertaking."

And while calling the city grant funding "generous," Stewart further noted that the money would have paid only for the sprinklers and not other costs such as plumbing and wiring.

"We were hesitant to move forward with the project until we had secured the rest of the funding to complete the project entirely," Stewart advised the city manager.

This return of funding prompted Commissioner Wood to suggest that it be used to provide for half of the four agencies’ requests on a yearly basis, an expense that will be counted in the present 2022-2023 fiscal year budget.

That includes $51,825 for the library operated through a regional system, $43,750 for the Surry Arts Council, $3,750 for the rescue squad and $5,000 to the museum.

The other half of those organizations’ regular annual appropriation will be included in the new fiscal year budget to go into effect on July 1, based on Thursday night's discussion, effectively spreading the total over two budget years.

Commissioner Cochran said the special appropriations should be viewed as an "investment," pointing out that she had received numerous contacts from citizens about the proposed funding decreases that many believed would hurt local youths.

"These young people need somewhere to go," Cochran reasoned.

The votes to fund the four agencies came after Commissioner Tom Koch sought unsuccessfully to table any such actions until complete financial records could be obtained from them, particularly the Surry Arts Council.

"I can't believe you can give away money without asking questions," Koch told fellow officials.

Changes on horizon

At the end of Thursday night's meeting, city leaders just seemed pleased to have the budget process completed.

"All I can say is hallelujah," Commissioner Wood commented. "It hasn't been easy, but we got it done."

"It may not be perfect, but it did take a lot of effort," Commissioner Phil Thacker agreed regarding the budget.

Mayor Jon Cawley also seemed elated that the new 2023-2024 funding plan had been finalized, while acknowledging the concerns raised by Commissioner Hutchens about the procedure involved.

"I do agree that our process is flawed," Cawley said. "And we will do better."

The mayor cited an absence of budget workshops that were held in past years — at which topics such as special allocations could be fully and openly explored.

Based on comments by Cawley, this process will be restored for future budgetary preparations.

Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.