This week’s regular meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners was postponed a few days in observance of the Fourth of July. Wednesday night’s meeting had a crowd, but most were there for the public comment period, as stakeholders in Terra Ceia Christian School and residents of Terra Ceia went on record again to express the harm that could come from a 600-acre solar farm installed next door to the school. Once the public comment period was over, many left the meeting, and a relatively small audience remained.

What those at the meeting received from Beaufort County Manager Brian Alligood was a lesson in county finances, specifically, the county budget. Over the course of several minutes and with the aid of a Power Point presentation, Alligood walked commissioners and members of the public through the different funds that county has, where the money that fills those coffers comes from, how it gets spent and on what it gets spent. There were pie charts clarifying where the money goes — mostly to education, health and human services and public safety, which counties must provide as mandated by the state. Alligood spoke about how state legislators have gone on record as saying local property taxes are too low and that local governments need to raise taxes in order to pay for the services the day is pushing down to them. He also explained how Beaufort County’s tax rate fares as compared with surrounding counties. Beaufort County’s tax rate is 55 cents per $100 property tax valuation, however the effective tax rate is 58 cents per $100. He then compared Beaufort County’s effective tax rate to those of the surrounding counties, which ranged from 54 cents per $100 in Craven County; 68.82 cents in Pitt County, 71 cents in Hyde County and a whopping 82 cents in Washington County.

On a scale of 1 to 100, with 1 being the highest tax rate, Beaufort County ranks 68 of the 100 counties in the North Carolina; Washington County is 14; Craven, 79.

Alligood said that budgets for most counties in the state allot the highest percentage of funds to education. Beaufort County will spend $17,676,000, or 33 percent of the entire budget, on education in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

He specified exactly what the $3 million borrowing package that was approved with the budget would pay for: proposed projects at the courthouse/jail; the now-county owned First Bank building; four roofing projects; two paving projects; a 911 communications tower; a generator for the tax office and a modular unit at a county landfill.

Alligood also kept it brief. It was an education in how the county spends the money it receives from property taxes, state-dispensed sales and other taxes, intergovernmental funds, licenses and fees, investment earnings and the money taken from the fund balance, the fund that would pay for operational expenses in case of emergency.

Not many people attend the Board of Commissioners monthly meetings, however, many people do like to complain about taxes.

We, at the Daily News, encourage readers to go the county’s website and seek out the video of this week’s meeting and Alligood’s presentation about the 2017-18 budget. An education awaits.