March 12, 2009

On March 4, Catawba County Manager Tom Lundy directed County departments to revert $1 million and 26 County positions to address reduced revenue projections.

• The 26 County positions include: six Building Inspectors; two EMT positions; three detention officers and one deputy at the County jail; a Senior Psychologist, Income Maintenance Caseworker, and Intensive Family Preservation Social Worker III at Social Services; two Public Health Nurses, two Physician Extenders, one Charge Nurse II, and one Medical Office Assistant at Public Health; a Budget Analyst II in the County Manager’s Office; one Senior Librarian position; an Office Support Specialist in the Tax Office; and a Heavy Equipment Operator and Scale Attendant at the County Landfill.

• Some capital projects and equipment purchases are being delayed, and technology is being used when possible to limit travel and save office space. This includes postponing the purchase of new in-car video systems, radios and other equipment for the Sheriff’s Office; a program to insert microchips into animals at the Animal Shelter which may help bring more animals back to their owners; and the purchase of new 800 MHz mobile and portable radios and Mobile Data Terminals needed by Emergency Services.

• Travel has been reduced and overtime limited.

Lundy said Catawba County’s situation would be worse if not for the County’s conservative budgeting practices.

“We traditionally budget in a very conservative manner, planning to spend less than we expect to receive,” Lundy said. "Our conservative revenue projections normally act as a hedge against a situation where we receive less than we anticipate. We also finance debt at fixed rates, not variable rates, and use a conservative, low-risk strategy in the investment of County funds. We believe the steps we have taken as our economy has worsened will allow us to reach the end of the current fiscal year without having to consider major reductions in services to our citizens, barring further State action.”

Public education has been forced to revert funds to the State, including $695,017 from the Catawba County School System, $186,481 from the Hickory Public Schools, $112,140 from the Newton-Conover City Schools and projected cuts of $2,000,000 to Catawba Valley Community College, as a result of the state’s cash management status for reimbursing expenses.

Additional recall actions taken by the North Carolina Governor’s Office that impact Catawba County’s budget include:

•  $98,690 in schools’ capital money, commonly known as Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding for public education, ADM funds are appropriated by the State annually and based on corporate income tax collections. They may be used only for capital expenses for education. An additional $350,000 earmarked for school building needs is in jeopardy for the remainder of this fiscal year.

•  $547,889 in lottery funding scheduled to be appropriated to Catawba County, pledged for paying future school debt.

•  $95,000 in cuts to Catawba County Social Services, including $70,000 to Smart Start and $25,000 to the Children’s Advocacy Center.

•  $99,437 in cuts to Catawba County Public Health, including $70,000 in cuts from Medicaid funding.

•  On March 4, 2009, the State notified Catawba County that it had overpaid Catawba County and its municipalities, along with seven other counties that had recently enacted a new ¼ cent sales tax, due to an accounting error in Raleigh. The State overpaid the County $1.9 million over a period of eight months.  This was an overpayment and the County has not spent these funds, and it will repay the funds over an identical eight-month period.

These cuts from the State level come as Catawba County has seen a significant increase in demand for County services that can be attributed to the economic downturn:

•  At Catawba County Public Health: a 79% increase in Medicaid child health clients and an 11% increase in dental clients.

•  At Catawba County Social Services: a 52% increase in the adult protective services case load, a 25% increase in Food Assistance clients and a 27% increase in Work First clients.

•  For Catawba County Emergency Services: EMS recorded its highest call volume ever in January, running 1,999 calls; a 136% increase in fire investigations; 116% increase in animal confiscations and 11% increase in clients visiting the Veterans Services office.

•  The Catawba County Sheriff’s Office reports a 64% increase in incident reports and increased demand for neighborhood watch programs.

•  Computer usage at Catawba County libraries is up 26% over the last few months, in large part due to customers searching for jobs online.

•  Visits to Catawba County Parks are up 27%, as citizens recognize the parks as a less inexpensive entertainment opportunity.

“We have worked hard to maintain critical County services our citizens want and are using, even in the face of declining revenue during the current fiscal year,” Lundy said. “We have tried to minimize the impact on services to this point, but some services have and will continue to be negatively affected as we cut back."

“The State’s actions are making a difficult situation even worse for Catawba County and other local governments,” said Kitty Barnes, Chair of the Catawba County Board of Commissioners. “As the national economic situation has worsened, Catawba County has been challenged to maintain services while keeping a balanced budget. We are seeing significant increases in the demand for some County services as a result of the economic downturn. The loss now of Average Daily Membership and lottery funding for education that we had already budgeted in this fiscal year for school capital projects and construction, and other services, has forced us to make deeper cuts than would otherwise have been necessary. These cuts also make the task of creating a budget for the next fiscal year more challenging. We empathize with the situation the State is facing, as we are all facing hard decisions, but we are disappointed that revenue that was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly for local governments has been seized with no warning. We call on the State to make decisions about spending on the State level, and not in money promised to local government.”