BY MIKE FUHRMAN

Iredell County commissioners on Wednesday began turning their attention to establishing the county’s budget priorities for fiscal year 2024-2025.

Framing the discussion during the Board of Commissioners’ winter planning retreat were projections that the local economy will remain strong and 20,000-plus new homes will continue moving through the development pipeline.

For the commissioners, that means planning for increased demands for classroom space and essential services like law enforcement, emergency medical services, public health and social services.

“This is growth. This is what it looks like being one of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina,” County Manager Beth Mull said.

Iredell County property tax revenues are expected to increase by about $8 million (4 percent) to $211.3 million in FY 2024-2025, while sales tax revenues are projected to increase by about $1.25 million (2 percent) to $61 million, Assistant Finance Director Caroline Taylor told the commissioners.

Based on economic forecasts and the county’s school funding formula, Iredell-Statesville Schools, the Mooresville Graded School District and Mitchell Community College can anticipate a modest increase in per pupil funding — from $2,223 to $2,299. If student enrollment increases by 1.5 percent as projected, the county will increase current expense funding for I-SS, MGSD and Mitchell by $3.99 million in the next budget.

Meanwhile, department heads have requested funding for 98 new full-time positions and the reclassification of 116 employees to higher-paying classifications. The total cost of filling all of those requests would be $7.1 million.

Stressing that those departmental requests — which she called “unprecedented” — had not yet been vetted, Mull said that all of the requests would not be included in the proposed budget.

But many of the positions — including 41 for EMS and 33 for the Department of Social Services — are needed to deal with an increased demand for services. More than 4,000 Iredell County residents have been added to the Medicaid rolls since December, swamping DSS staff. And EMS, which is already dealing with staff burnout amid staffing challenges, continues to see double-digit increases for service.

And more growth is coming.

Planning Director Matthew Todd told commissioners that the county (529), Mooresville (2,098), Statesville (782), and Harmony (3) had received 4,206 building permits for housing units in 2023.

Combined with residential projects that are already approved, there are about 20,000 housing units in the pipeline, Todd said.

Commissioners expressed some frustration that the municipal boards continue to approve high-density developments that increase the demand for new schools and other services that those board’s do not have to fund.

“The problem we have here is the two towns and city want to grow, grow grow,” Vice Chair Bert Connolly said. “The want to sell and grow and sell more water and sewer. That’s where they make their money.

“They could give a rat’s butt about schools,” he added.

While Mull did not propose specifics, she said budgeting money for employee raises is critical to helping the county government remain competitive. With more than 1,200 employees, an across-the-board increase of 1 percent would cost the county $780,000.

“The decisions this board has made (to increase employee salaries in recent years) are paying off,” Mull said, “but we can’t get complacent.”

Commissioners did not discuss requests for the county’s capital needs during Wednesday’s retreat.

That discussion, officials said, will be delayed until I-SS officials provide information on bids for the construction of Weathers Creek High School. Voters approved an $80 million bond referendum for the new school, and commissioners have agreed to borrow another $40 million, but previous cost estimates have approached $200 million.

While the county has traditionally borrowed money to pay for school construction, the longstanding policy of the Board of Commissioners is to save money for non-school projects. That means if the bids for Weathers Creek come in substantially higher than $120 million, money set aside for other county capital projects would likely be diverted to pay for the new school.

The board began setting aside money for future school construction in the current budget, earmarking $10 million for a future elementary school. By saving money for the school construction and then paying cash, the county could save about $30 million in interest payments that could be used for other capital needs.

Dipping the county’s fund balance is another option for commissioners.

The county currently has more than $104 million in unrestricted funds in its fund balance, an amount equal to about four months of operations, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson said.

“We’re in a good position because we’ve said no to a lot of things,” Commissioner Gene Houpe said.