PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Board of Commissioners gathered at the Chatham Agriculture & Conference Center for a two-day annual retreat this week to define their priorities for the upcoming year.
Throughout the entire-day meetings, commissioners covered a variety of topics including school funding, budgeting and potential trends for the upcoming year.
While few votes were taken during the meeting, the gathering provides an inside look at the goals of the current board and where it wants to prioritize funding in the new budget cycle.
The News + Record attended the retreat and will provide a roundup of information gathered each day.
Day 1: Setting expectations
The first day of the retreat saw commissioners meet with members from the UNC School of Government to set expectations for the ways county staff would work with commissioners.
The discussion largely focused on the role of staff and how they inform the commissioners of operations. Commissioners asked several questions about seeing performance indicators from county departments.
VinFast Drive
Before the commissioner retreat began, commissioners approved a consent agenda item, meaning it was approved without discussion, to rename a roadway in Moncure. The 1.6 mile private road off Old U.S. Hwy. 1 will be the entryway to the VinFast facility and was appropriately renamed VinFast Drive.
VinFast Drive, the roadway entering the new VinFast facility in Moncure was officially renamed and approved by Chatham Commissioners during their board retreat on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Chatham County Government)
Chatham County Schools update
Commissioners also heard a presentation from Chatham County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson. He shared the progress of the district including the growth seen in the district's test scores, which exceeded state averages in nearly every category. Jackson also lauded the relationship between the schools and the commissioners. He pointed to high supplement to the school district from the commissioners, which ranks among the highest in the region.
Tony Messer, CCS chief financial officer, also shared a presentation with commissioners about the financial expectations of the district in 2023. Messer also told commissioners that because of their support of CCS, they currently rank sixth in the state in county funding at $3,998 per pupil, which represents an increase of 13.2% from the previous year. Messer also discussed the good standing of the district's financials including that CCS hasn't had audit findings or compliance issues for 11 consecutive years.
For Fiscal Year 2023-2024, Messer shared the district will also seek a county funding increase of $4,995,200. That increase includes increased funding for employee supplements, compensation and benefit increases, and post-COVID program sustainability costs.
A presentation from Tony Messer, chief financial officer of Chatham County Schools, shared during the annual retreat on Tuesday shows the breakdown of the district's request for increased funding from the Chatham Board of Commissioners in the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year. (Photo courtesy of Chatham County Schools)
Defining goals and priorities
As commissioners continued to set expectations, they further defined their goals for the new year. That definition began by examining the goals for the county as defined by the 2017 Land Use Plan, Plan Chatham.
The goals in that plan included the following:
- Preserving rural character
- Managing growth and focusing on quality growth near towns and centers
- Creating jobs and economic opportunity throughout the County
- Preserving the natural environment and agriculture
- Conserve natural resources
- Provide recreational opportunities and access to open space
- Provide infrastructure to support desired development and support economic and environmental objectives
- Become more resilient by mitigating, responding and adapting to emerging threats
- Provide equitable access to high-quality education, housing and community options for all
- Foster a healthy community
HR and hiring challenges
Assistant Human Resources Director Courtney Jones shared the status of hiring and benefits in Chatham County. She shared with the board that the county, like employers across the country, is struggling to fill necessary positions right now.
She said the county has been forced to take an active approach to recruiting. The HR department has begun finding candidates on social media job sites like LinkedIn, Handshake and Indeed.
In 2022, Chatham County employees had a 22% turnover rate, which represents a 10 percentage point increase from the last two years. The high turnover rate coupled with an increased desire for remote work opportunities has forced the county to get creative with its hiring and recruitment.
The county has altered its benefit offers in the past two years. Those additions include a 5% increase in 401k retirement plans for all employees, increased hybrid work plans, and even a free subscription to Headspace —a meditation and mindfulness app.
Day 2: Budget goals
The second day of retreat saw commissioners dig into the nitty-gritty details of local policy and assess where they’d like to spend the county budget in the coming fiscal year. While no formal votes were taken, commissioners heard from a variety of town staff about programs ranging from arts to solid waste.
Collaborative Impact Teams
The day began with a presentation about the importance of Collaborative Impact Teams (CITs), which are comprised of all county departments and various complimentary community agencies that meet to discuss common issues and develop collaborative solutions or ideas that align with organizational and community needs and various goals of Plan Chatham. County staff informed commissioners that the original idea of CITs remains the same, but their goals have changed slightly as the county evolves and the goals of Plan Chatham shift over time.
CITs are also the basis for what Chatham calls its “Heads-Up” process, which is how the county determines its budget priorities.
Common identified priorities through Heads-Up included culture & recreation, human services, natural resource management and public safety. Some priorities also carry over from the previous fiscal year including a focus on legislative impacts, equity, access to technology and mental health.
Discussion of Fiscal Year 2024 budget priorities showed that Chatham is a growing county with a population that expects more and higher quality services. To provide those services the county departments believe they must collaborate and work on continuous process improvement. The final recommended budget for FY 2023-24 won’t be delivered until May.
Solid Waste Fees
County staff are proposing an annual increase in Solid Waste Fees between $12 and $20. The pay increase would help boost annual revenues from the fund.
The current fee of $125 is charged to all landowners with dwellings in unincorporated areas of the county.
For FY 2022-23, $3,430,500 is budgeted for revenues from the solid waste fee from unincorporated residents. This number is based on the fee being paid by approximately 27,444 households paying the $125 fee.
The proposed fee increase also ensures revenues and expenses for the Solid Waste and Recycling Department are equal or profitable as the population of the county increases.
Occupancy Taxes
Commissioners also debated the potential impact of increasing the occupancy tax rate. The rate has remained steady at 3% since it was first levied in 1994. Increasing the rate could lead to more revenues for promoting tourism in the county and keep Chatham aligned with neighboring counties like Randolph and Wake. On the contrary, increasing the tax gives the county less overall control on how that revenue is used and current stakeholders like owners/operators that will charge the additional tax are unlikely to see marked growth in relation to the tax increase.
Arts programming
Public arts displays and events focused on celebrating local artists highlighted the goals for Arts in Chatham in the short term. County staff shared examples of public art pieces and events in Raleigh, Cary and Person County as reasons for commissioners to provide funding for these displays in Chatham. Staff said the county could explore art opportunities in parks, community centers and schools. With this increased focus on the arts, staff recommended the approval of the name change from Chatham County Parks & Recreation to the Chatham County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. They said the name change would “allow people to envision themselves participating in services beyond the traditional idea of only art.”
Commissioners met again on Tuesday, Jan. 17, was after publication deadline. A recap of that meeting will be online at chathamnewsrecord.com later this week and in next week’s print edition. For more information visit www.chathamcountync.gov/government/board-of-commissioners.
