Sylva ponders tax increase

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

Sales tax receipts are booming in Sylva and a newly completed property revaluation will bump real estate values by about 14.5 percent this year — if tax rates stay the same, the town would expect to receive $345,000 more in the coming fiscal year than in the current year’s budget.

That increase equals 7.86 percent of the estimated general fund revenues for 2021-22, but three of the town’s five commissioners say they support an increase to the tax rate as well.

Despite the marked increase in projected revenue under the current tax rate of 42.5 cents per $100 of value, Town Manager Paige Dowling told the board that the town will have to pull $52,000 from fund balance to cover some essential items in its budget, and that even that wouldn’t include the $81,000 needed to fill new positions requested by the police and sanitation departments.

“Pretty much what I’m saying is this budget accomplishes what we’re currently doing,” she said during a March 25 work session.

PAYING FOR PERSONNEL

The biggest drivers for anticipated increases in the estimated 2021-22 budget are salaries, insurance and retirement benefits for town employees.

Of the $218,000 estimated increase for the police department, $126,000 is for salaries and benefits. The remaining $92,000 is for standard vehicle replacements that had previously been funded through the town’s capital reserve fund and so had not appeared in the budget as a police department expense. The $40,684 increase for the street department is primarily for salaries, as is the $28,685 for administration. Of the $62,396 increase in miscellaneous expenses, $25,000 is for separation allowances, a type of retirement benefit that police officers receive.

The heightened salary expenses stem from the standard 1.4 percent cost-of-living increase the town gives its employees combined with a 2.5 percent merit increase that the town board voted on earlier this year. Retirement benefits and health insurance cost increases figure in as well.

The $52,000 Dowling suggested that commissioners take from fund balance would include setting aside $20,000 to go toward sidewalks during the N.C. 107 project, $18,000 to cover increased fire department costs following the revaluation, $7,000 for a pay study of the town’s workforce and another $7,000 for a feasibility study on building a public restroom downtown — though a follow-up discussion April 8 indicated town staff would take on the bathroom feasibility research to avoid the $7,000 cost.

None of that would fund the two police officers and one part-time sanitation employee that department heads begged commissioners for during an earlier budget work session Jan. 29.

Police Chief Chris Hatton told commissioners that he needs two additional officer positions, which would cost $69,500 apiece for salary plus additional costs like equipment and training. Public Works Director Jake Scott asked for a part-time sanitation employee, which would cost $12,000. Because these positions would be ongoing costs, the money can’t come from fund balance, which is treated more like a savings account used to defray one-time expenses.

current tax rate, but that bill would rise to $728.86 following the revaluation. In 2016, lower overall property values combined with perennial budget shortfalls prompted commissioners to increase the tax rate from 30 cents per $100 to 42.5 cents per $100. Some town residents may have expected that the reverse would be true following a revaluation yielding a substantial increase in value. Nestler made multiple comments to that effect, saying that he “didn’t want to stomach” a rate increase at this time. “So when do you want to stomach it?” asked Commissioner Ben Guiney. “Do you want to do it next year?” Providing quality services is one of the town board’s biggest roles, Guiney said, and without sufficient funding the town can’t provide quality services. “Chris (Hatton) and Jake (Scott) have made a compelling case, at least to me, that the staffing needs to increase now, not a year from now, and I think we should pay for it,” he said. During the Jan. 29 meeting, Hatton told commissioners that demand for police services was skyrocketing — officer actions and calls for service increased 64.7 percent from 2019 to 2020 — even as staffing had remained the same for 13 years. Officers are routinely called in to work extra shifts on their days off to cover for colleagues who arePolice Chief Chris Hatton says his department needs more officers to respond to skyrocketing calls for service, but some say the graph is misleading and that police on vacation, off sick or away at training — it officers are not the best choice to respond to the types of situations making up most of drains morale, impairs retention and strains that increase. Donated graph services, Hatton said. Meanwhile Scott said his crews have been dealing with an explosion of solid waste, removing 22.5 percent more tons of trash in 2020 than in 2019. “My opinion is I think we need both of the additional personnel costs,” said Mayor Lynda Sossamon. “We may have to give something else up if nobody wants to raise taxes, but I definitely think those are needed for services.” “Where are you going to find $81,000 in savings without a tax increase?” asked Nestler. Commissioner Mary Gelbaugh agreed with Nestler’s view, pointing out that many businesses weren’t able to make their usual income this year and that their budgets may be worse off than the town’s is right now, without the tax increase. Meanwhile, Commissioner Barbara Hamilton said she Protestors hold signs opposing a plan to increase taxes to fund additional police officers dur- would support a tax increase if it meant taking a public hearing on a different topic the board held at Bridge Park April 1. Holly Kays photo ing some of the burden off of the town’s existing police force. Rather, it was about whether 2021 — mid- “We have lost so many officers within the pandemic, post-revaluation — was the time last couple years because they can go to to pay for them. Waynesville, they can go to Asheville, they can “What I’m hearing from people is, ‘I just go to other places and have some benefits and had the worst financial year of my life this know they can have time off with their famiyear, and yet my property value went up,” lies,” she said. “I’m not for a tax increase but my said Commissioner David Nestler. “I don’t goodness, if you were in their spot, how would think it’s a good year to say we’re going to also you feel if you had to do that every single day?” raise your tax rate on top of that.” It might not be popular, she said, but the After the last revaluation took place in town needs to fund at least one new officer 2016, property values went down drastically, position. as it was the first revaluation following the During an initial straw poll of board memA QUESTION OF TIMING recession of 2008. The average home in Sylva was worth $162,000, while following the bers’ thoughts on the subject, Commissioner Greg McPherson swung the majority to the

The conversation between board mem- 2021 revaluation that average value rose to side of foregoing a tax increase this year, but bers March 25 for the most part was not $171,500. That means a person with the aver- his position changed when Hatton presented about whether or not there is a justified need for more police and sanitation employees. age home value in 2016 would owe the town $688.50 in annual property taxes under the some new information about the state of his department. F

Last year, officers stayed past their scheduled time to go home for a total of 620 hours, s and over the last three years the department s has logged an average of more than 1,000 x hours of overtime per year. r “That information is new to me,” said

McPherson. “That much overtime justifies a a new position to me.” n Gelbaugh raised the possibility of securing the funds through some other means besides property tax. Perhaps, she said, the town should consider an occupancy tax.

“Our traffic count has changed with u tourism,” she said. “Some of the responsibilities of the police have increased, and I just e want to be more creative in where we look for d that income besides just property tax alone.” - Nestler pointed to the $400,000 the town expects to receive from the federal American e Rescue Plan over the next two years as another e possible funding source. That money can be m used only for specific purposes, and police officer salaries would not qualify. However, he sugd gested, perhaps the town could fund some of its other budget needs with those federal dold lars and thereby free up money for personnel. m d e PUBLIC OPPOSITION n Some town residents are speaking out e against increased police department spendt ing. A group of about 10 people attending the s board’s outdoor quasi-judicial hearing regarding apartment permits April 1 held n signs with slogans like, “No Tax Increase for

New Cops” and “aHousing, aFood, n aMedical Care, X More Cops” to display their opposition. e During the board’s April 8 meeting, r Georgia Mitchell spoke against an expanded e police force during the public comment pore tion of the agenda. d She pointed out that even though calls for service have increased dramatically, actual n crime is down. During his January presentation d Hatton said that officers took fewer incident reports and did fewer investigations in 2020 d than in 2019 but that they saw more calls relaty ed to illegal drug use, mental illness, poverty l and homelessness. Police response is not the y best way to address those concerns, she said.

“If you want to raise taxes, especially during a pandemic but just in general, you need a e really good reason,” she said. “Logically I just can’t find any reason to increase the number of cops in this town. At some point filling our community with armed law enforcement e when you don’t have any data showing that you really need it isn’t preventative anymore. n At some point, it does just kind of become a d waste of money, and if you keep increasing it, at some point I can only interpret it as aggresy sion toward the community.” d It’s an ongoing discussion, but one that will have to come to a conclusion before long. e The new fiscal year begins July 1, and comr missioners must pass a new budget — and set a tax rate — before that time. -Commissioners expect to receive a balanced r budget by April 20 and to discuss it in a work e session at 9 a.m. April 29, to be held via t Zoom. A public hearing on the proposed d budget is tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

May 27, and commissioners will vote on a final document June 10.

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

After two fires and two workers killed in six months and with its EPA permit currently up for renewal, corporate officials from Pactiv Evergreen have released details meant to reassure the public about safety at Evergreen Packaging’s Canton facility.

“Evergreen Packaging considers the safety of its team members, visitors and the community as a top priority and seeks to maintain a safe working environment at all times,’ said Erin Reynolds, marketing director for Evergreen.

On April 5, reports of a fire inside the mill were confirmed by Canton Fire Chief Tim Carver just after noon. By 3:30 p.m., Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers was able to say that the fire had been brought under control, with no loss of life. Smathers attributed that to the quick reaction of Carver’s department as well as other volunteer departments that responded.

Per Reynolds, the fire occurred in the digester area where raw and untreated soft wood chips are processed into pulp. The chips are about 1 inch square, and an eighth of an inch thick. At this stage, the chips haven’t yet been treated with any chemicals.

“The chemical processing occurs at later steps in the manufacturing process. During this [April 5] event, precautions were taken to protect nearby chemical storage tanks,” said Reynolds. “This is our standard practice to manage and minimize the event. At no time was there danger of a release of these chemicals as a result of the fire.”

The April 5 fire was unrelated to the fire that took place on Sept. 21, 2020, during which two contractors performing work on an empty process vessel were killed. Reynolds said that the North Carolina Department of Labor investigated that fire and its causes, and found no fault on the part of Evergreen.

An April 5 fire at the Evergreen paper mill in Canton was the second in

six months. File photo

A Franklin man admitted in Macon County Superior Court to forcing his way into a woman’s house and sexually assaulting her, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said this week.

Wednesday, Cody Road resident Jacob Loftis, 34, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and second-degree forcible sex offense.

Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bill Coward sentenced Loftis to 62-87 months and 58-130 months, respectively, with the sentences to run consecutively.

This means Loftis will spend at least the next 10 years in prison.

Additionally, for 30 years, he will be listed on North Carolina’s sex-offender registry, a publicly available, searchable database.

Assistant District Attorney John Hindsman Jr. prosecuted the case.

Hindsman said at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2019, the victim, who was asleep in her bedroom, woke to find her former boyfriend looming over her bed and pulling off the blanket.

Loftis attempted to sexually assault the woman.

Prior to this – that same month – he had sexually assaulted her; plus, Loftis attempted an earlier break-in and sent the victim a series of threatening and lewd texts.