Some likely to lose county allocations in upcoming budget

Several area nonprofit organizations and similar agencies likely will see their funding from Beaufort County reduced or eliminated in the county’s 2011-2012 budget.

During a meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, the board made those tentative cuts or eliminations. Although the board has yet to approve a final budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, it’s likely those tentative actions will become permanent when the 2011-2012 budget is approved later this month.

Most of the proposed cuts and eliminations were approved by 4-3 votes that followed party lines, with Republicans Hood Richardson, Stan Deatherage, Al Klemm and Jay McRoy voting in the affirmative and Democrats Jerry Langley, Robert Cayton and Ed Booth voting in the negative.

So far during its budget discussions, the board has tentatively reduced County Manager Paul Spruill’s proposed $50.1 million budget by $65,112. The tentative cuts and eliminations made Tuesday night come to $29,878. During a previous budget session, the board tentatively removed $40,234 in expenditures from the proposed spending plan.

During Tuesday’s budget discussion, the board tentatively approved allocating $5,000 to help pay for a sign and entrance to identify Veterans Memorial Park on East Third Street in Washington. The county had been asked to provide $10,000 toward the project, estimated to cost about $38,000. The vote was unanimous.

In a meeting last week, the board tentatively removed $21,000 earmarked for a replacement vehicle for the county’s emergency-management office from the proposed budget. The board also unanimously agreed to turn back a request from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office for the purchase of a GPS tracking system for 20 of the office’s patrol vehicles at a cost of $9,600. The board also voted 4-2 to tentatively turn back a request from the sheriff’s office for in-car video systems at a cost of $9,634 with Cayton and Langley casting the sole dissenting votes. McRoy did not attend that meeting.

Richardson, long a proponent of not funding or providing minimal funding for most area nonprofits and outside agencies, said county taxpayers should not be footing the bill for the services provided by most of those organizations.

“This is a budget year. There’s no reason to raise taxes, and most of this stuff has to come out of the budget,” Richardson said has he looked at a list of the funding requests from those organizations. “The public does not expect taxes to go up.”

The board voted along party lines to tentatively eliminate any funding for the Beaufort County Arts Council for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Richardson said the arts council does not need county dollars because “they are the wealthiest people in town.”

The board also voted along party lines to tentatively eliminate funding in the upcoming budget for Literacy Volunteers of Beaufort County.

Richardson said he opposes funding LVBC because most of what it does is train illegal immigrants to speak English.

The board also voted along party lines to reduce the county’s allocations to municipal recreation programs by 10 percent when compared to the money those programs received for the current fiscal year. At one point, there was a proposal on the table to not provide any funding to municipal recreation programs, but it evaporated.

“I’d be willing to fight for recreation … but cut some of it off,” Deatherage said.

In another tentative recreation-allocation move, the board voted to place the $14,159 that would have gone to Washington’s recreation program into the county’s contingency fund. If the city reduces residential electric rates inside the city lower than its residential electric rates outside the city, the $14,159 remains in the county’s contingency fund. If the residential electric rates remain equal after the city’s budget is adopted, the county will release the $14,159 to the city.

A motion by Richardson to not provide county dollars to chambers of commerce in the county failed. Richardson, Deatherage and Langley voted for the motion, but McRoy, Booth, Klemm and Cayton voted against the motion.

Richardson said the chambers should not receive county funds because they cost the county money by lobbying for University Health System of Eastern Carolina offer to take over Beaufort Regional Health System instead of supporting another offer by Community Health Systems, which withdrew its offer regarding BRHS earlier this year.

Richardson favored the CHS offer.

The board resumes budget deliberations at 3 p.m. today.

Tentative cuts, eliminations approved by commissioners

• Municipal recreation programs will receive 10 percent less from the county in fiscal year 2011-2012 than they received for the current fiscal year. The amounts of the cuts follow: Aurora, $500; Bath, $475; Belhaven, $1,200; Chocowinity, $800; Pantego, $550; Washington, $1,573; and Washington Park, $180.
• Beaufort County Arts Council, no funding for 2011-2012. It received $17,000 for this fiscal year.
• Literacy Volunteers of Beaufort County, no funding for 2011-2012. It received $2,500 for this fiscal year.
• Citizens on Southside Together, funding for 2011-2012 reduced by 20 percent ($600). That means the organization, which provides after-school tutoring to students, will receive $2,400 in the next fiscal year.
• Food Bank of the Albemarle, no funding for 2011-2012. It received $1,000 for the current fiscal year. The food bank provides some food to Eagle’s Wings, a Washington-based nonprofit that helps provide food to needy Beaufort County residents.
• Washington Community Care Coalition, no funding for 2011-2012. It received $2,500 for the current fiscal year. The coalition also provides food and other assistance to needy residents in Beaufort County.
• Belhaven Memorial Museum, funding for 2011-2012 reduced by 50 percent ($1,000). It received $2,000 for the current fiscal year.