Now that it’s all over and a budget has been approved, the hard work for Roanoke Rapids City Council begins to figure out how to improve salaries and services for the fiscal year after the one upcoming.

The council will have a full year to mull over what it plans to do when the deliberation of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget comes around.

Throughout the budget discussions for the upcoming fiscal year talk of salary studies was bandied about frequently.

The cold hard fact is, even without the proverbial crystal ball, we know and they know what the results of a salary study are going to be — salaries are not in line with those of comparable municipalities and something must be done to improve them for retention and recruitment.

And, unless the city finds a magic potion that will bring them truckloads of gold, that’s where it will end — a screeching halt on a highway where other municipalities are passing them by unless the council uses the full year to mull over what it plans to do when deliberation of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget comes around.

The same applies to services the city offers. The talk over the past few budget years has been about keeping services at adequate levels. At some point adequate will not be acceptable.

There is also a property revaluation coming up and the results of that are most likely going to be an increase in those values. Will the council have the moxie to adjust accordingly or is it going to be more of the same talk of we just can’t do it at the risk of imposing a tax increase?

Over in Bertie County, our friends at the Roanoke Chowan News-Herald recently reported, there were a handful of citizens at a board of commissioners budget public hearing who went as far to say they would favor a slight increase to the county’s tax rate and use those funds to increase the salaries of the sheriff’s office and EMS.

At that meeting, the newspaper reported, there were citizens who were not happy that salary increases were not included for the sheriff’s office or EMS.

Even one person during the city’s budget public hearing, the mother of an officer, told the council, “You could raise my taxes, I don’t care. The other people may care but I don’t care because I want to see this town, Roanoke Rapids, I want to see it flourish, I want to see it grow and not only that I want to see the people that need the money get the money. Everybody needs money, grant it, but these guys are leaving because there’s nothing.”

And during the Bertie County budget public hearing, the News-Herald reported that Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin worried that without the promise of a raise, some of his deputies may leave to work for higher pay in another local county or town. “If they leave, the work must go on, but look at the value of what we are losing. And think about what the lack of a raise for our deputies affects. It affects our school system, our court system, it affects families, and it affects our citizens.”

Just this past Tuesday evening, retired Deputy Fire Chief Wes Hux reminded the council of their duty to employees. “They deserve everything they get. We’ve got some good equipment here lately. They really deserve everything they get and I hope y’all will approve the budget tonight and give them that raise and I can tell you that’s not enough. They’re not doing it for the money but you’ve got to have money to put gas in your car and buy your groceries too. A lot of them are doing it for free at volunteer departments.”

So it’s just not in Roanoke Rapids. It’s all over northeastern North Carolina and we are politely and respectfully asking that the council use the full year to mull over what it plans to do when deliberation of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget comes around.

The upcoming year might be a good time for the city council to resurrect Mayor Emery Doughtie’s sales tax increase proposal, something that must gain legislative approval and then be put to the voters in the form of a referendum.

The proposal was pulled from the legislative calendar in 2011 but with the seniority that Representative Michael Wray has gained during his tenure we believe it may be time for the city to try again. If this becomes reality again, the city should also consider courting the state’s Republican lawmakers, who the late Senator Edward Jones said then were responsible for pulling the matter from the calendar.

We feel it is worth a shot because a sales tax increase would level the taxing field so to speak and would help the city collect dollars from not only residents but those stopping in the area.

The case for legislative approval of the proposal can be bolstered by the city showing it has worked hard to reduce the theater debt, has not raised taxes in 10 years and has been frugal with the revenues it receives.

Despite the salary obstacles, city employees continue to do their jobs and do them well.

With a new police chief coming onboard July 3, we believe he will be looking for ways to improve morale, improve salaries and work to keep great officers from abandoning ship.

There’s a lot for the council to consider in the coming year and they have to make some tough decisions to make this city better, keep quality employees and improve services.

Now that it’s all over and the budget has been approved, it’s time for the hard work to begin — Editor