Halifax County commissioners this morning adopted the $58,074,082 budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The board also adopted the county fee schedule for the upcoming budget year.

Approval of the budget came on a motion by Commissioner Carolyn Johnson and a second by Sammy Webb. Commissioner Linda Brewer was absent.

“Given the discussions we’ve seen about the budgets in other counties and the dissension that we see I would like to once again commend the county manager and her team for the hard work and their commitment and their patience that they’ve placed on this budget,” Johnson said. “I think it’s a very good budget so I’d like to congratulate them.”

County Manager Dia Denton thanked Johnson for the comment. “We’ll take July off and start again in August. We take one month off a year for the budget.”

Chair Vernon Bryant said Johnson “hit the nail” with her comment on the upcoming fiscal year plan. “I would just say ditto.”

Before the board approved the financial plan Denton said, “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for to adopt your proposed fiscal 24-25 budget. There are no changes to the budget ordinance itself. It’s the same as when it was presented to you back in May.”

With the consideration of the budget ordinance comes the decision on the fee schedules, she told the board. “We do have some changes in the final draft of the fee schedule if you would consider those today.”

The full list of fees can be found in the board agenda packet at this link

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The changes, she said, come mostly from splitting building inspections apart from planning and development to separate those into two departments. “Building inspections has been able to streamline the fees … and then planning has added a section for a new administrative review fee for solar energy systems including a decommissioning plan and a performance bond review fee which is required every five years for solar energy systems.”

Chenoa Davis provided the motion on the fee schedule with a second from John Smith.

Budget highlights

As a result of the recent property revaluation the proposed tax rate will be 70 cents per $100 of value.

The budget allocates $3,944,228 from the fund balance to fund the next fiscal year's approved capital for county departments. 

An additional $644,000 of fund balance will cover the costs of additional one-time bonuses to full-time and eligible part-time employees. 

The commissioners approved awarding full-time employees $1,000 bonuses and $500 bonuses to eligible part-time employees, payable in July. 

This year's budget provides additional capital funding for the county’s public schools and community college totaling $784,000. 

The budget Is based on an estimated property tax base of $4,542,124,542 and a tax collection rate of 97.5 percent. 

The budget absorbs a 17 percent increase in property and liability insurance coverage.

To maintain a healthy workforce, the budget continues to provide a competitive benefits

package, which includes 100 percent paid premiums for health coverage for each full-time employee who participates in the county's wellness program.

The budget maintains the longevity pay program which the county said is a vital employee retention tool to reward long-term full-time employees.

The budget funds the pay-for-performance evaluation plan, another retention tool.

The budget continues a hiring freeze, previous staff reductions and travel restrictions, which will remain in effect throughout this budget year.

The budget includes funds to support both economic development and contingency operations.

The budget continues to require employees to use county vehicles, when available, for travel; this policy amounts to a savings of over 60 percent in travel costs versus paying mileage for use of personal vehicles.

The budget funds needed capital outlay for county departments.

The budget provides funding to a Community Grants program in the amount of $50,000. 

The budget implements a comprehensive salary study to increase the salaries of county staff to become more competitive with neighboring counties.

In fall 2022, Halifax County selected Piedmont Triad Regional Council to conduct a comprehensive pay study of employee salaries.

As a result every position in Halifax County was recommended to increase. Through adjustments the county was able to bring the minimum wage for a full-time position to $15 per hour, equating to a salary of $30,000 per year.