13 minute read
Waynesville wastes no time in budget discussions
February 26-March 3, 2020 Smoky Mountain News 10 BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER W aynesville’s elected officials, administrators and department staff were supposed to spend Feb. 21 talking about the year’s upcoming budget — which they did, for nearly six hours — but the board also took immediate action on several issues deemed too important to wait.
Finance Director Ben Turnmire gave a sixmonth budget update, telling aldermen that everything seemed to be on track but also outlining some goals and conditions aldermen need to keep track of as they craft next year’s budget.
The general fund will continue to be pressured by expense growth, as in every town, Turnmire said, thanks to the impact of personnel increases and mandatory retirement contributions. The town’s enterprise funds — water, sewer and electric — are and must remain stable, and all departments must remain focused on efficiency.
And despite the current boom economy, aldermen should also prepare for economic retraction.
“It’s going to happen at some point, and we need to be ready for it,” said Turnmire.
The countywide property tax revaluation is currently underway but won’t have a budget impact until July of 2021. The five-year forecast is for sustained positive property tax growth, and there are hopes that Waynesville’s property valuation may increase by as much as 7 percent — not nearly as rosy as Haywood County Commission Chairman Kevin Ensley’s 20 percent projection for the county, but still better than the last revaluation, which was relatively flat. Right now, the town’s ad valorem tax rate is at 49.57 cents per $100 in assessed valuation. At that level, each penny on the tax rate accounts for about $115,000.
Aldermen will need every bit of that, if
valuation increases comes to pass. Turnmire said that 165 submissions to the town’s capital improvement plan call for more than $33 million in projects over the next five years, but the town only has the ability to spend about $8 to $10 million over that period.
HUMAN RESOURCES The town will also face several immediate spending needs like a state-mandated increase to state retirement plan contributions of $20,000.
On a positive note, the town’s dismal medical loss ratio of 1.47 last year has dropped to 0.91 this year. The MLR is a critical figure in negotiating health insurance rates; the 1.47 figure means that for every dollar Waynesville paid in health insurance premiums, the insurance company paid $1.47 in claims.
That leads to large rate increases, but the 0.91 rate this year means the insurance company is making money. Still, the town is looking at a 10 percent increase in premiums this year, to the tune of about $220,000 — sadly, a welcome figure compared to the more than 25 percent increase logged last year.
The town is also looking at ways to become more competitive in attracting and retaining top talent. A full-scale pay classification study hasn’t been done since 2006, and a new one could help address vast inequality in pay scales across departments, and across municipalities in the area.
The study could cost in the neighborhood of $80,000. Alderman Anthony Sutton made a motion to proceed immediately with the study, which was approved unanimously.
WATER AND SEWER Also on tap is a storm water utility plan, which was talked about last year but went down the drain. what’s at stake is the possible creation of a service charge that would distribute the cost of storm water management based on how much storm water is generated by a property.
At an average rate of $2 a month per month, that would raise about $90,000 a year. A multi-tiered system is possible, as are caps for large commercial customers and exemptions for businesses that have spent money on storm water management, like the Russ Avenue Ingles.
Waynesville’s lingering waste treatment problems are about to become a thing of the past, but with a new treatment plant on the horizon, rates will have to increase on average 10 to 12 percent every year for the next four or five years to sustain the $19.4 million nointerest loan the town’s secured to pay for it.
PARKS
A long-promised park in Waynesville’s historic African American neighborhood should see some progress as soon as this spring.
Alderman Jon Feichter pushed for more funding in this year’s budget, noting that the board had budgeted $60,000 last year to pour a slab, build a pavilion and straighten out the parking situation. The town is also applying for Medford fund grant for playground equipment.
“I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made on the Calvary-Craven Park,” said Feichter. “I think [Director of Development Services Director] Elizabeth Teague and her team have done a good job in moving that project along.” The budgetary impact of the town’s $2.46 million recreation department will also get a thorough review this year. Revenue generated through membership and passes to the town’s rec center generated only $553,000 against that figure, and a total of about $900,000 a year.
Ad valorem taxes subsidize the recreation department to the tune of $1.04 million or 16 percent of all ad valorem taxes, and changes to rates — including an increase for patrons who don’t live in town limits — may become a reality this year.
ROADS
Town officials feel they’re being thrown under the bus on the condition of local roads, but two of the biggest problem areas, Main and Pigeon streets, are the state’s responsibility.
The greatest concerns are on Pigeon Street are from South Main Street down to the Salvation Army.
Town Manager Rob Hites said NC Department of Transportation was open to allowing the town to grind an inch off the road and repave it. While that might not be legally permissible, it would be a pricey project that the town might not get reimbursed for; the project also has the potential to disturb utilities just beneath the road’s surface, which would mean cutting through the new pavement to repair them.
In 2018, the town implemented a $15 per car vehicle fee, with $10 of that going towards maintenance of its own roads. In the days preceding the budget retreat, Feichter asked Facebook: Should we keep it?
Eliminating the fee would slow the pace of street repairs, but during the retreat he noted that the fee impacts people on fixed incomes the most, as well as people with multiple vehicles. Alternately, the town could raise the fee to $30, but no one’s proposed that.
Feichter’s poll had a low response rate, but a strong majority of respondents expressed support for keeping the fee.
However, the town elects to move forward with street maintenance — and pay for it — Feichter said he wants data on the condition of the roads, to help prioritize repairs and keep citizens abreast of what’s being fixed, and why.
Feichter proposed a street condition study that would do exactly that, but aldermen didn’t feel like they had to wait to commission such a study, passing Feichter’s motion during the meeting.
Waynesville had street condition studies done in 2011 and in 2015. The average score in 2011 was 82 but rose to 84 in 2015. Those studies cost $14,200 and $16,000 respectively, so a new one would likely run about $20,000.
GOVERNANCE
Aldermen launched into a lengthy discussion over whether or not to move the public comment portion of the meeting to the beginning of board meetings. For years, it’s been held at the end of the meetings, but thanks to a motion by Alderman Chuck Dickson, the board will try out the new arrangement.
The board may also seek a new arrangement in how it elects its members. Currently, Waynesville is the only government in Haywood County and one of the few in Western North Carolina that elects all five of its board members at the same time, every four years.
Of course this means that voters could wipe the board clean, leaving a tremendous deficit of experience.
A legal opinion issued by Town Attorney Bill Cannon says that the General Assembly’s approval for such a change is not required, contrary to years of speculation.
Mayor Gary Caldwell opposed the change, citing the $15,000 cost of putting on an election every four years; that would double to $15,000 every two years if the change is made.
Dickson, who was town attorney for Clyde and Maggie Valley when their board adopted staggered terms, said that the complete turnover of a board would be “disastrous.”
Mayor Pro Tem Julia Freeman and Sutton said more research was needed, while Feichter urged the board to “strongly consider” making the change. Although no action was taken, the issue could pop up again in the coming months.
State law mandates passage of a revenueneutral budget by July 1 each year, so the Feb. 21 meeting was only the start; more workshops may be held before what’s called the “mangers budget” is presented to the board. After that would come a public hearing, or possibly two, and then a vote for adoption, likely some time in June.
BY HOLLY KAYS S TAFF WRITER T he Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority will have a new executive director on the job by March 19 after the TWSA board voted unanimously during its Feb. 18 meeting to hire engineer Daniel Manring.
“I’ve really grown to appreciate and love working with water and sewer, and to work in the director’s position just gives me an opportunity to further get involved with the community and be in a people management role,” said Manring. “It’s more fitting to me as a person as opposed to just the technical role that I serve most of the time now.” Manring, 39, graduated from Smoky Mountain High School in 1998 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in construction management with a minor in business administration from Western Carolina University. He began working for the Sylvabased engineering firm Lofquist & Associates Inc. in 2007, leaving in 2014 to take a position as coordinator of administrative and facility projects at Southwestern Community College. After one-and-a-half years in that position, he returned to Lofquist, where he is a project manager.
Since 2015, he has worked as an adjunct professor of construction project management at SCC, and he serves on the WCU Construction Industry Advisory Board and the SCC Civil Engineering and Geomatics Advisory Board. In addition to a bachelor’s degree, he holds a safety certification through OSHA and an environmental documentation certification from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Manring lives in Cullowhee with his wife and two children.
Manring will earn a salary of $92,500, plus benefits, and replace former director Dan Harbaugh, who resigned in September after seven years in the position. Harbaugh took a new job in Fayetteville, which allows him to live closer to his aging mother. Dan Schaeffer, retired public works director for the Town of Sylva, has been serving as interim director.
After Harbaugh’s last day Sept. 27, Board Chair Tracy Rodes said that she hoped to have a new leader on board within five months. The board voted to hire Manring more than a week inside that fivemonth deadline, though he won’t actually start the job until closer to the six-month mark. The delay will allow him to finish up some projects he’s working on for his current employer.
“We worked really hard to do that,” Rodes said of the hiring timeline the board ultimately achieved.
TWSA published a job ad for the position on its website Sept. 26 and moved to publish it in trade publications across a four-state area. Twelve people applied for — y k w f y y
the job, and every board member looked at and ranked each application, whittling the pool down to six. The Personnel Subcommittee then took a closer look at the top six candidates and narrowed them down to two.
The subcommittee did preliminary interviews with the top two candidates and then scheduled them to come to TWSA, where they toured facilities, met employees and engaged in an interview with the full board. Department heads filled out evaluation forms for each candidate, which the board considered along with its own impressions from the interview.
— Daniel Manring
“What I was hearing was that he (Manring) had familiarity with a lot of our projects that were already active and that he was invested in the community,” said Rodes. Rodes emphasized the diversity of expertise and knowledge the director’s job requires, commenting that it’s so broad that in reality there’s no “perfect candidate” who comes with all the tools already in hand.
“A lot of the skills come with experience in doing something like this,” said Rodes. “He assured us that he was willing to learn and train and do anything he needs to do to do his job well. I do believe him.”
Manring said he’s been working with TWSA since 2007, both as a client and as the water and sewer authority the engineering company found itself needing to coordinate with. He believes he brings a more diverse range of experience to the table than what a resume might show — for instance, many of the engineering projects he’s worked on have been grant-funded or public projects, so while he has not been employed by a local government before, he has experience with how such entities function from the project engineering side.
“I’m a person that likes to wear a lot of hats, and this role allows me to have a full plate,” he said. “That’s very appealing to me.”
Manring will certainly get his wish in that regard. The list of in-process projects is long, and as the new director Manring will need to jump in feet-first to keep them moving. Construction on the new wastewater treatment plant in Cashiers is expected to begin in August, and the water line for the Dillsboro bridge project is going in now. TWSA is also working to expand infrastructure along the Little Savannah Growth Corridor, refurbish the wastewater treatment plant behind Harold’s Grocery in Sylva, and build a new lift station, also in Sylva. Then, of course, there’s the N.C. 107 project, which will require all kinds of attention and planning in the years ahead.
Manring believes that his existing relationships with DOT staff, local business owners and the engineering community will be a significant asset. He also believes that better telling TWSA’s own story will go a long way toward improving relationships across the board.
“One thing I’m really excited about is to show off TWSA a little bit,” he said. “I feel like a lot of the exposure they get is regarding fees and the limitations that some people feel TWSA may have on development, and one thing I want to show — and I’m super confident that I can do this — is just the great service to the community that TWSA provides. I’m excited to step in on day one to start improving community relations.”
Lunch & DISCUSSION Tickets available now with Dr. Bart Ehrman
Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Thursday, April 9 Noon at the Harmon's Den Bistro at HART Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife
Buy your tickets in advance at news
Magazines - Newspapers 428 HAZELWOOD Ave. Waynesville • 456-6000
One-on-One Personal Training
Have You Spent the Last Several Months Taking Care of Everyone Else? Time To Take Care of Yourself!
love yourself first
DISCOUNTSON M ULTI-SESSION PACKAGES! Empowering You to be Fit and Healthy 828-226-9668 SmartFitGymWNC.com 34 Montgomery St., Waynesville SmartFitDiane@gmail.com
