Members of the general public weren’t alone in their ambivalence about the proposed budget that county manager Heidi York unfurled on Monday.
Equally mixed was the reaction from Alamance County’s commissioners – especially when it came to York’s recommendation for a 2.25 cent increase in the county’s levy on property.
The county manager, for her part, had framed this suggested tax hike as a necessary response to years of inadequate revenues and an over-reliance on savings to balance the county’s budget. She went on to trace this downward spiral back to the tax rate that the commissioners had set after the last countywide revaluation in 2023.
Sam Powell, a recent appointee to the county’s governing board, echoed much of the manager’s rationale when he shared own his thoughts with his fellow commissioners.
“What happened this year? Why are we so far behind?” Powell inquired rhetorically. “I think the real reason why we are where we are now is that, back in 2023, we did the revaluation, and we cut the tax 22 cents. We got behind, and we haven’t caught up.”
Powell also commended the county’s staff members on their efforts to pare back expenses in order to reduce the overall outlay from the county’s general fund.
“They have cut salaries and staff people. But the commissioners are still going to do everything we can to get that down [lower].”
– County commissioner Sam Powell
“They have cut salaries and staff people,” he went on to explain. “But the commissioners are still going to do everything we can to get that down [lower].”
Powell’s deference to the county manager’s spending plan may seem somewhat counter-intuitive given the fragility of his position on the county’s governing board.
A Republican of long standing, Powell was originally installed on board of commissioners in March after the local GOP’s leadership chose him to succeed the late county commissioner John Paisley, Jr., who passed away in February. Powell is also slated to appear on the ballot this fall as the GOP’s nominee for a special two-year position to fill the remainder of the nearly three years Paisley had left in his term.
Also on the ballot in November’s general election are fellow Republicans Steve Carter and Kelly Allen, who will be competing for a pair of regular four-year terms on the county’s governing board.
Allen, who currently serves as the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, had a response to the budget that may seem more characteristic of a Republican with an upcoming election. Reflecting on her working-class roots, Allen insisted that she understands why some area residents are so reluctant to see the county’s top brass jack up the property tax rate.
“I know how hard it is on the working class. I understand what these people are saying when they say they cannot afford any more taxes. This year, we have 2,361 people who are in arrears paying their taxes.”
– Alamance County commissioner chairman Kelly Allen
“I know how hard it is on the working class,” she affirmed. “I understand what these people are saying when they say they cannot afford any more taxes. This year, we have 2,361 people who are in arrears paying their taxes.”
Carter, who serves as the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, spent much of his time reminiscing about another tough budgetary vote in 2019 when a majority of the commissioners voted to raise the property tax rate by 8 cents. The second-term commissioner added that the board’s hands were more or less tied that year by the local electorate, who had approved $189.6 million in public education bonds but rejected a proposed sales tax increase to cover part of the debt payments.
The board’s vice chairman was much less voluble, however, when it came to the county’s current financial conundrum.
“This budget, I don’t know where it’s going, but it’s already making some significant decreases in staffing.”
– Alamance County commissioner vice chairman Steve Carter
“This budget, I don’t know where it’s going,” he said, “but it’s already making some significant decreases in staffing.”
Singing from an entirely different libretto was commissioner Ed Priola, a Republican who has positioned himself as a vocal opponent of tax hikes ever since he joined the county’s governing board in 2024. Although Priola won’t be back up for reelection until 2028, he made sure no one was mistaken about his continued objection to a property tax increase.
“This relentless compounding of taxes is unnecessary, unreasonable, and for me, unacceptable. For too many families, it is not a mere inconvenience . . . It’s driving long-term folks out of their homes…and it’s locking young folks out of the getting the American Dream in the form of a home.”
– Alamance County commissioner Ed Priola
“This relentless compounding of taxes is unnecessary, unreasonable, and for me, unacceptable,” he declared. “For too many families, it is not a mere inconvenience…It’s driving long-term folks out of their homes…and it’s locking young folks out of the getting the American Dream in the form of a home.”
Of the five county commissioners, the least loquacious about the budget was Pam Thompson, the only non-Republican who currently serves on the board.
Although elected as a Republican in 2020 and again in 2024, Thompson has since left the GOP and currently has no party affiliation. In her remarks on Monday, the board’s lone independent concentrated mainly on land-use related issues rather than the manager’s budget.
In the meantime, Priola offered a few words of praise for the county manager’s efforts to reduce spending in her proposed budget.
“The removal of certain dormant line items, I think, is a good thing,” he conceded.
At the same time, Allen enjoined her fellow commissioners to turn the proverbial axe on themselves as they try to tamp down York’s recommended expenditures.
“I want us to stop paying for commissioners’ travel, hotel, and gas,” she said. “If we’re asking everyone else to cut back, I think we should cut back also.”
