8 minute read
Sylva, Jackson pass budgets
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
The boards governing Sylva and Jackson County both passed budget ordinances this month that feature a change in tax rate, but the rate adjustments and levels of consensus differed considerably between the two.
On Tuesday, June 15, Jackson County Manager Don Adams presented a budget ordinance totaling $78,942,885 — identical to the total amount in his recommended budget last month — that is based on a property tax rate of 36 cents per $100 of value. That rate is less than the 38 cents per $100 currently in effect, but given the results of this year’s property revaluation, it will yield a higher total revenue than the revenue-neutral rate of 34.47 cents per $100. The budget represents a 6.27% increase over the 2020-21 adopted budget but a 2% decrease over the amended budget.
Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the budget, with little discussion. However, Commissioner Mark Jones approvingly noted that it would tie Jackson with Swain County for the state’s secondlowest tax rate. Based on 2020-2021 rates, only Carteret County had a lower rate than the one soon going into effect in Jackson County, at 33 cents per $100.
The tenor was different on the Zoom call where Sylva adopted its budget on Thursday, June 10.
Town Manager Paige Dowling presented a budget worth 18 percent more than the one adopted last year. It includes a tax rate increase of 1.5 cents per $100 of property value — an even tax rate would still have yielded a 7.86% increase — and $400,000 in American Rescue Plan funding.
The tax rate increase is intended to offset the cost of hiring an additional police officer and part-time sanitation worker. The increase has proven controversial in Sylva, with multiple people speaking against it during the public comment period in recent months and Commissioner David Nestler staking himself out as the lone board member opposing the proposal.
“We’re seeing an increase in our budget regardless from (the revaluation), and I do not think we should raise taxes in addition to people having to pay more,” he said during an April 29 work session.
Nestler is of the opinion that the town could trim enough money from its budget to offset at least half a cent from the proposed 1.5-cent tax increase, though he allowed that adding another police officer — a measure he argued was unnecessary — would require a rate increase. Prior to the vote June 10, he pointed out that unexpectedly strong sales from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board meant the town would receive an additional $160,000 in the coming year. Should those dollars be included in the budget, he asked?
“We’ll appropriate that in after we receive the funds,” said Dowling.
“Their budget’s approved, right?” Nestler responded. “If we pulled the funds in now, we could probably use it to offset some of the tax increase, couldn’t we?”
“That’s a one-time appropriation that they’re sending to us, and when we built the budget theirs wasn’t approved yet,” she replied.
One-time appropriations aren’t seen as responsible funding sources for recurring
“During the call, West River directed Site Development Corp. to install Sediment Basin C per plans,” CDC’s response says. “Site Development Corp. did not take action and on October 31, 2019, improperly installed Sediment Basin C caused a small landslide which pushed a neighboring house off of its foundation and resulted in a significant amount of sediment leaving the site.”
Follow-up investigation showed that Site Development had failed to install Sediment Basin B and the required bypass ditches, which resulted in Basin C serving a much larger drainage area than planned, CDC said.
Five additional revisions came in 2020, three requested by West River or Site Development, said CDC. Another was due to pool design revisions and the final one added more drainage features to the parking lot.
ZIMMER AND WEST RIVER WEIGH IN
against West River and CDC — though its cross claim against CDC did not contain any allegations and merely asked to be included in the awarding of damages should the court find that CDC was negligent. Its claim against West River says that West River and its subcontractors — which include Site Development — failed to perform “in a good and workmanlike manner,” resulting in Zimmer paying more than $200,000 in state penalties, as well as attorney’s fees and extra construction expenses.
Like CDC, Zimmer alleged that Site Development improperly installed the sediment basin after the initial archeology-related plan revisions and that the NOVs were not due to deficient plans by CDC, but rather came because Site Development failed to properly sequence the work. In some cases, Zimmer alleged, it had to hire additional contractors to fix work that Site Development and Hooper’s did incorrectly. By withholding payment, Zimmer and West River are “attempting to recover” some of the additional cost they incurred to correct Site Development’s work and complete the project on time.
While much of Hooper’s work was indeed defective, Zimmer claimed, Site Development was responsible for its subcontractor’s performance. Additionally, Site Development itself performed utility work that Zimmer deemed defective and incomplete, hiring other contractors to finish it.
In its March 26 response to Site Development’s suit, West River moved to dismiss the lawsuit and put forth crossclaims and counterclaims of its own, targeting Zimmer, CDC and Site Development for breach of contract.
Like Site Development, West River said that CDC’s negligence was the cause of its many plan revisions and that these revisions delayed the project. However, West River also averred that Site Development itself had performed substandard work that directly contributed to the environmental violations and caused the landslide on Halloween 2019.
“Throughout the project, plaintiff’s work including, without limitation, the erosion control devices and grading work it performed on the project, were not performed in accordance with the terms of the subcontract and applicable laws, codes and regulations,” West River claimed.
Meanwhile, said West River, CDC failed its duty to “provide complete and unambiguous civil design drawings that comply with applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations” and Zimmer is unjustly refusing to pay West River for the work it did.
In an April 29 filing moving to dismiss West River’s claim against it, Zimmer said that West River had not been paid for some items “because the work was not completed, was done improperly or incorrectly by West River or its subcontractors, and in some cases had to be redone by West River or its subcontractors, and in some cases, by other contractors.” Site Development and CDC also moved to dismiss West River’s claims, with CDC stating that it never had a contract with West River, that West River “materially deviated” from CDC’s plans and that West River should have known about Site Development’s alleged shortcomings and is “vicariously liable” for those shortcomings.
While WCU owns the land where the apartment complex stands, Zimmer is the developer and property manager, holding a 40-year lease on the property. However, WCU is not a party to the lawsuit.
“WCU is aware of this pending litigation, but are not able to make any comments at this time,” said WCU Communications Director Benny Smith.
Rate Total budget Rate Total budget (2020-21) (2020-21) (2021-22) (2021-22)
Jackson.......................38......................74,287,496.................36......................78,942,885 Sylva...........................42.5...................4,162,129...................44......................4,921,572 Dillsboro.....................25......................200,800......................25......................231,201 Webster......................15......................127,750......................15......................125,650 Forest Hills.................15......................78,000........................15......................89,500
* Source: Town/county budgets for each jurisdiction. Property tax rates expressed in cents per $100 of property value. Budget amounts reflect originally adopted budgets and do not include mid-year amendments.
expenses like salaries. However, Nestler asked, couldn’t the money be used to offset some one-time expenses included in the budget, freeing up other dollars for the new salaries? Dowling’s response was that would be possible, but the town would likely end up needing to put the extra money toward an expensive road repair project it has coming up this year on Allen Street.
Ultimately, the budget passed 4-1, with Nestler as the sole no vote.
After the vote, Commissioner Mary Gelbaugh spoke on her reasons for favoring the rate increase.
“In 2013 when I got onto this board, on every single year the overtime was pretty intense for the police department, and every year they’ve asked for another officer and we have declined their request,” she said. “So I think this was a building request that didn’t just come from Chief (Chris) Hatton. It came from (former chief) Davis Woodard, it came from (former chief) Tammy Hooper. It’s something that we’ve denied a lot of times, and I’m really disappointed that it had to come the year that we did the tax evaluation and changed things, because it did hit a lot of people in a way that was unfortunate, and I think every board member here feels the same way.”
While she felt the same way as Nestler about using the ABC money to offset the need for a tax increase, Gelbaugh said, the board would be in the same position next year if it didn’t “just bite the bullet now.”
“The Allen Street factor was huge,” she said.
Nestler thanked Gelbaugh for her comments but said he didn’t believe the overtime figures were related to a staff shortage, but rather to the continued need for training and the fact that an officer who gets a call during the last 30 minutes of his shift will need to stay past his scheduled time, regardless of staffing levels.
“It’s not an easy call, and I think it’s a very bad year to be increasing taxes,” he said. “That’s why I voted against it. I didn’t like where we aligned our priorities in the budget, either.”
The budgets for Jackson County and Sylva are now fully adopted and will go into effect July 1.
