During a work session Tuesday about the 2016-2017 budget, the Wake Forest commissioners voted three to two to do away with the usual annual true-up of funding for the Wake Forest Fire Department beginning in that coming fiscal year.
In the years since the town budget has included a set amount of the property tax – currently 11 cents of the 52-cent current and proposed tax levy – the town has calculated during June the excess amount of the property tax revenue, the difference between what was conservatively budgeted and the amount actually received. It then applied the 11 cents to that amount and made out a check at the end of the month payable to the fire department. This year the check will be about $30,000, Finance Director Aileen Staples said.
Mayor Vivian Jones began the discussion after a short introduction about the budget by Staples by stating what the practice has been, resulting, she said, in a check from “$10,000 to $100,000.”
Jones said she wanted to change that to “just the 11 cents without the true-up. I think that’s a fair way to do it. They know how much they are going to get. I’m sure you department heads (all of them were at the table for the work session) will find a way to use it.”
“They budget for the tax base and then get more revenue,” Staples said. When Jones asked her about the contract, Staples said the board could make the decision to end the true-up. “The way the contract is written it’s your call.”
“I want to see what Wake County is actually going to do,” Commissioner Anne Reeve said. As a result of a study, the Wake County commissioners could increase the tax rate in the fire districts across the county from 8.12 cents per $100 valuation to 9.6 cents and change the formula for how the county pays the fire departments like Wake Forest which provide protection to both a town and a fire district. Reeve went on to say, “They’ve [Wake County] been dilly-dallying and dragging their feet. I know you department heads need money, but I’m not in favor of it at this time.” Reeve is the board liaison with the fire department and reported on the town board’s action later Tuesday during the fire department’s board of directors meeting.
“I think the true-up needs to remain the way it is until next year when we renew the contract,” Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said. “I think they mentally budget for it in an invisible budget.”
Commissioner Greg Harrington’s motion was for the end of the true-up to take effect in the coming fiscal year, and Stinnett and Reeve voted no while Harrington and Commissioners Jim Thompson and Brian Pate voted yes. The current contract ends in March.
After that, Stinnett began by asking Facilities Manager Mickey Rochelle what he does. He answered that he handles compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), handles building maintenance, repair and cleaning, and contracts for some work. She asked about the cleaning and he said the contractors “do good for a few months and then its right back to the same old stuff.”
Stinnett’s focus then turned to ADA compliance, asking if it is “black and white on ADA compliance or is there a gray area?” Rochelle replied that the town is about 25 years behind in ADA compliance. Stinnett said that is going to cost “millions of dollars to get everything ADA compliant. There’s got to be an area where there’s an exception.”
Rochelle and Town Manager Kip Padgett explained that every new project from sidewalks to buildings has to meet all ADA standards but existing situations such as the steep sidewalk on East Jones Avenue next to La Foresta is covered under the town’s future compliance transition plan which outlines how and when the problem will be corrected. “Right now we don’t even have a transition plan,” Rochelle said. He was named as the manager after a facilities department was created about two years ago. “We’re making the effort to make everything compliant going forward,” Padgett said.
“I maybe had misunderstood that there was another route,” Stinnett said.
She also went on to ask about the roof at the Renaissance Centre and the repair, the responsibility of the building owner, as well as other parts of the budget for the center’s upkeep.
Harrington asked if the police department is fully staffed – he is the retired police chief – and Chief Jeff Leonard said there are three vacancies but it is close to fully staffed.
Looking at the list of outside agencies the town gives money to, Jones said, “I don’t like the idea of giving the museum money when they don’t charge for anyone to use their facilities.” Padgett’s budget will give $4,000, the same as the past several years, to the Wake Forest College Birthplace Society which owns and operates the Wake Forest Historical Museum.
“As a board member [of the society], I’ll pass that on,” Planning Department Director Chip Russell said. Harrington, who acts as a docent at the museum, said he would defend the donation. “It brings a great number of people to town.”
“It is a great place and they do a good job, but we have to charge people for using our facilities,” Jones said.
Padgett ended the meeting by reminding the commissioners that during the coming year he and they have to determine how to replenish the Futures Fund. “We’ve got to keep that fund going.” The fund was established to assist new and existing industries and businesses to help them thrive in Wake Forest. Its largest investment has been to help establish and nurture the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina, which has been repaying the town.
(See the May 4 issue of the Gazette in the archives for a full description of the budget which will probably be approved by the commissioners at their June 21 meeting.)
One Response
I would like to respond to Mayor Jones comments about the proposed $4000 contribution to the Museum’s annual budget by the Town of Wake Forest. First of all like most museums we do not charge an admission fee. Those small museums who do charge an admission fee normally are empty. The City of Raleigh Museum used to charge a fee and even sitting in the midst of Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh had less actual museum visitors than we have. Nearly two years ago they changed to a free admission policy and their visitation skyrocketed. Like us the City of Raleigh Museum has a donation box instead. We have found that our donation box likely brings in about 25% more than if we charged a $3 adult admission.
The other side of the fee issue is for groups using the Museum’s auditorium and other facilities. The Wake Forest Historical Museum only makes its indoor facilities available to other non-profit groups and even then it is not really free. We ask those groups for an annual patron membership in the Birthplace Society which helps offset expenses. In addition those groups give hundreds of volunteer hours each year to help keep the museum open on Sundays and for special events and its gardens a beautiful park enjoyed by thousands of Wake Forest citizens right in the middle of town. For example over the past three years the Wake Forest Garden Club has installed a new well-fed irrigation system in the gardens on the south side of the property, purchased hundreds of dollars worth of plants, paid for upgrades in the kitchen and given untold hours of volunteer work in the gardens. The General James Moore Chapter of the DAR is the primary source for our Sunday volunteers and the list goes on and on. In fact the only groups that do not pay anything to use our facilities are the various departments of the town of Wake Forest that from time to time have meetings and planning retreats at the Museum and Wake Forest University has 4 to 6 events annually and contributes something in excess of $150,000 per year in operating budget, travel for staff, staff salaries and benefits not counting the full expense for the upkeep of the Dr. Calvin Jones house. The small but much appreciated contribution from the Town goes to off-set the expense of the parking lot and street lighting that the Birthplace Society rents from the Town at approximately the same $4,000 annual cost. Most of our visitors think that we are a municiple
From the first planning of the new expanded museum it was to be a place where the community can come together in a place to learn of its history as well as a place to hold community events. We have been very successful, perhaps far more than even we realized we could be. We are grateful for all the community support through the years including the generous support of the Town of Wake Forest and Mayor Jones when we were raising funds to build the current museum building. Without everyone’s support, including the Town, it would never have become a reality and without continued support it would have a very uncertain future.