39-cent NW tax rate, higher pay hike ok'd

It was stated in the meeting that 39 cents or 40 cents would be a “revenue-neutral” tax rate, meaning it would generate about the same revenue collected the year before the 2025 revaluation of Wilkes property upped North Wilkesboro’s overall property values by 75-80%. State law requires that local governments identify and make public their revenue-neutral rates when new values from a revaluation are first used.

Also Tuesday night, all five commissioners voted for increasing pay for all town employees by 4% instead of the 2.9% across-the-board pay hike in the initial draft budget.

This action was taken after discussion about the need for higher pay to help North Wilkesboro be competitive with other local government pay, especially for police officers. North Wilkesboro Fire Chief Robbie Gentle spoke up for the need for higher police pay to avoid losing North Wilkesboro officers to other towns.

Interim Town Manager Dylan Blankley said the higher pay will be funded with $42,965 of $92,000 general fund contingency funds and $10,719 of $44,021 water and sewer fund contingency funds.

Blankley said he will include the 4% pay increase and a 39-cent tax rate in the draft budget presented for a mandatory public hearing at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, June 3. The budget could be approved later in the meeting and must be approved by the start of a new fiscal year on July 1.

All of the commissioners except Michael Parsons indicated support for adopting the revenue-neutral tax rate, with Parsons saying he preferred a 42-cent tax rate. The current 52-cent rate has been in place since 2006.

Parsons said a 42-cent rate is reasonable and would provide additional revenue needed to better address needs beyond fiscal 2025-26, such as a great need for town street repairs identified in a recent study; higher pay for town staff who make less than peers elsewhere; and heavy equipment purchases.

The draft 2025-26 budget only covers town operational expenses, which Parsons said increased by around $200,000 in fiscal 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 combined. Blankley said the only capital expenditures in the draft budget are in the water and sewer fund portion.

Mayor Marc Hauser, who doesn’t vote unless there is a tie, cautioned against reducing the tax rate so low that the board would have to soon increase it. He voiced support for providing financial cushion in town finances.

Blankley said a 39-cent rate is projected to generate about $2.49 million in ad valorem tax revenue, based on the town’s current 97% tax collection rate and increased values with the revaluation. Blankley said a 42-cent rate would result in the town collecting about $191,761 more in tax revenue than with a 39-cent rate.

The town is projected to collect about $2.46 million in fiscal 2024-25 with the current 52-cent tax rate and values before the revaluation.

Commissioner Andrew Palmer said he supports adopting a revenue-neutral rate because even with that, many property owners are going to have higher tax bills.

Palmer said he believes that although a revenue-neutral rate will result in the town collecting about the same amount of tax revenue, the revaluation “will reshuffle who pays what and it’s my opinion” that owners of more moderately-priced houses will see disproportionally larger percentage increases in their tax bills.

Parsons said he sympathized with what Palmer was saying, “but I just want to make sure that we’re going to be able to continue providing services” that town residents expect, “because cost increase every year.”

Parsons acknowledged that North Wilkesboro had a very healthy undesignated fund balance of about $12.5 million (about 127% of general fund expenditures) as of June 30, 2024, but he noted that about $4 million of this has been pledged on current projects such as improvements to Smoot Park, buying a building at 711 Main Street that is leased to Provalus and building a new fire station.

He said he supports adhering to an adopted policy of maintaining a fund balance of at least 65% to 75% to help protect against unforeseen challenges to the town’s financial security.

Also in the meeting Tuesday, the North Wilkesboro commissioners voted unanimously to increase garbage collection fees to compensate for the Wilkes County commissioners agreeing to raise the “tipping fee” paid by commercial (including town) trash haulers for garbage dumped in the county landfill to $85 per ton, up from $45 per ton now.

Interim Town Manager Dylan Blankley said the county’s higher tipping fee will increase North Wilkesboro’s annual solid waste disposal cost from about $176,000 now to about $334,000.

Blankley proposed and the commissioners unanimously agreed to increase the monthly garbage disposal fee with commercial dumpsters to $40 (up from $26 now) and with commercial and residential trash cans to $27 (up from $14 now).

They also unanimously agreed to include a rental fee for the Yadkin Valley Marketplace of $50 for events drawing fewer than 50 people and $150. The draft budget includes numerous town fee increases.

Blankley said that based on feedback he received from commissioners, he is leaving the insurance plan for board members unchanged. This wasn’t discussed in the meeting, but Blankley said in an interview that consideration was given to having a separate insurance plan for board members.