NE Piedmont News

Warren County Commissioners adopted a $33 million budget on June 23 that raises property tax levy 2% to help cover projections in lower revenue caused by COVID-19 pandemic’s economic effects.

“This pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on our FY 2020- 2021 budget development," Warren County Manager and Budget Officer Wincent Jones said in his presentation to commissioners. "It has become the single largest factor in diminishing revenue projections, which until this point were poised for continued growth."

The county manager also said that the state informed local leaders that its sales tax revenue will decrease as much as 20%-40% and that it is "imperative that we remain conservative with projections for sales tax revenue in Fiscal Year 2021 until we can determine the impact of the pandemic and what the recovery looks like ... ." 

The approved plan means property owners will pay 2 cents more in 2020-2021, for a total of 81 cents per $100 of assessed value, according to a budget document. The property tax collection represents 61% of the revenue, with sales tax being the second largest source. The budget represents a 1.2% growth over the fiscal year 2020 budget.

“Last year, we mentioned that our revenue structure would make it difficult to expand county services in the future without increasing the tax rate,” Jones said in his budget presentation.

Jones listed six factors affecting the budget, including a 6.1% increase in employee health insurance; required retirement contributions for employees and law enforcement personnel by 1.2% and 1.14% respectively; public safety organization improvements costing $234,771; an additional $300,000 for Warren County Schools; adding funds for the Health Department, which is projected to lose $377,324, and; an anticipated surplus from this fiscal year.