Warren County Manager Linda Jones addressed the Lake Gaston Association (LGA) lask week, explaining the county’s annual budget process and how tax rates are set.
This is part of a series of presentations with county managers and/or finance directors coming from all five counties which encompass Lake Gaston to help the property owners prepare and deal with the revaluation process.
Jones gave information on the budget preparation calendar which begins in January with a commissioners budget goal setting work session and then guidance is given to each department on budget preparation for next year.
In March department heads return budget work sheets, sometimes called dream sheets, to the finance office and in April the county manager meets with department heads to review their budget requests.
In May, Jones will present the recommended budget to the commissioners and the board will then set the dates for budget work sessions. A public hearing is held in the first few weeks of June with the budget being adopted on June 25.
The present general fund budget is $22,937,271 with a tax rate of 84 cents per $100 of valuation. Countywide, the estimated valuation of property is $1,338,403,806, and Jones said the county typically colleges 94.5 percent of taxes due in any given year.
She said one penny on the tax rate equals $126,479.
Jones also gave other revenue highlights from the present budget, which carries the county through June 30.
Other taxes and licenses brought in $95,000; sales taxes contributed $2,895,000 to the county budget; intergovermental unrestricted payments were $116,700 with restricted payments totaling $4,189,218; permits and fees totaled $269,675; while sales and services brought in $1,899,340 and investment earnings were at $220,000. She said miscellaneous revenue came in at $135,500; transfers from other funds totaled $125,730; and the county started with an ending fund balance from the previous year of $1,743,772.
Intergovernmental unrestricted payments are state government payments given to local governments that have no strings attached on spending. Intergovernmental restricted payments are state government payments which have restrictions applied to their use.
Jones told the gathering that Warren County reappraises property every eight years, the longest time between re-evaluations allowed by state law. The next revaluation will be January 1, 2009.
North Carolina law requires that counties assess property at 100 percent of their market value, though Warren County’s sales assessment ratio for the current fiscal year is 41 percent, lowest in the state.