A proposed budget that Alamance County’s manager unveiled this week will be formally exposed to popular scrutiny when the county’s board of commissioners holds a state-mandated public hearing on June 2.
But some area residents didn’t bother to wait for the budget’s release before they shared their two cents worth about this $229.7 million spending plan.
A total of 16 people approached the commissioners about the budget on Monday prior to the release of the manager’s recommendations – whose highlights include a 1.59-cent property tax increase and an allocation for the local school system’s operations that falls about $17 million short of a school board request.
These individuals were among the 21 people who took advantage of a designated public comment period, which kicked off a 4-hour marathon meeting that the commissioners convened that evening. The budget also drew a few words from some of the comment period’s other participants, who addressed one county commissioner’s denunciation of “racial equity” training for county staff and a new policy for labeling mature reading materials at the local library system.
But the county’s next spending plan was the first order of business for most of the people who approached the commissioners that evening. Of particular concern for 12 of these speakers was the proposed allocation for the Alamance Burlington school system, which is the single largest recipient of revenue from the county’s general fund.
None of Monday’s public speakers seemed to have advance knowledge of the specific recommendations that county manager Heidi York shared with the commissioners later that evening. Many of them nevertheless wanted to bend the ears of county officials in light of their belief that the commissioners have previously shortchanged the school system’s needs.
Windy Lampson, a high-school art teacher who was recently named the school system’s teacher of the year for 2025, was among those who preemptively leaned on the commissioners to increase the county’s allocation to the school system.
“I understand the hesitation to raise taxes, but our property tax rate remains lower than that of surrounding counties. Fully funding our school system isn’t just an investment in students, it’s an investment in our future workforce, property values, and in the economic health of Alamance County.”
– ABSS teacher of the year Windy Lampson
“I understand the hesitation to raise taxes, but our property tax rate remains lower than that of surrounding counties,” she said. “Fully funding our school system isn’t just an investment in students, it’s an investment in our future workforce, property values, and in the economic health of Alamance County.”
The operative word
In their appeals for “full funding” of public education, Lampson and other school boosters were largely concerned with one part of the county’s annual contribution to the Alamance-Burlington school system.
Since time immemorial, the county has split up the school system’s annual allocations between the school system’s capital needs and its operational outlays. The former category includes the maintenance and repair of the school system’s facilities – a role that the county has been explicitly assigned by the state. The latter covers things like specialized programs, staff like school resource officers who aren’t paid by the state, and an annual salary supplement that teachers and school-level administrators receive on top of their state-funded salaries.
York had previously told the commissioners that her proposed budget for the next fiscal year would focus on the school system’s capital needs. As a result, the $72 million she has set aside for the school system contains $11.4 million for facility improvements such as roof and HVAC replacements and $4.8 million for other capital needs.
York has also earmarked nearly $42 million for operational expenditures – which the school system can apply to things like salary supplements. This sum is noticeably less than the county’s previous operational allowance due, in part, to the county manager’s decisions to redirect $10 million from operations into capital projects and transfer another $1.3 million for school resource officers directly into the sheriff’s budget.
The county manager’s proposed operational allowance falls considerably short of the $59 million that the Alamance Burlington school board had asked the county to allocate for its operations in the next fiscal year. This request, which amounts to a 10.7 percent increase over the county’s current operational allowance, was meant to provide more revenue for certain auxiliary positions – including so-called “classified staff” such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and financial secretaries.
“Currently our county pays rock bottom prices for these [ABSS classified] workers, and I personally know several classified staff members who have to work more than one job just to make ends meet.”
– Robert Alvis
Robert Alvis, a social studies teacher who currently serves as the president of the local teachers’ union, approached the commissioners on Monday with some concerns about these classified workers. Alvis noted that the school board has proposed a salary supplement to address a problem with turnover among these employees, and he urged the commissioners to provide a sufficient operational allowance to cover this supplement.
“Currently our county pays rock bottom prices for these workers,” he added, “and I personally know several classified staff members who have to work more than one job just to make ends meet.”
Staff support
The commissioners heard numerous other pleas during Monday’s comment period on behalf of classified employees and the school system’s other auxiliary staff members.
During her time at the podium, Lampson ticked off a list of the employees who she insists have been particularly hard hit by the school system’s financial woes.
“Our district has already made painful cuts, positions like testing coordinators, school instructional specialists, nurses, TSS coordinators, graduation coaches, and media center coordinators are gone or severely reduced,” she declared. “But their responsibilities have not disappeared.”
Meanwhile, Ruth Schallert insisted that meager salaries have made it hard for the school system to hold onto employees such as special education teachers.
“Many special education teachers and speech therapists have left Alamance County to work in surrounding counties for more compensation. . . It’s difficult to provide a quality education when there are no teachers or therapists available at a school. . . You can be part of the solution to addressing the special education crisis.”
– Ruth Schallert
“There are 54 vacancies for special education teachers and instructional assistants, 17 vacancies for speech therapists, and 7 vacancies for school psychologists,” she said. “Many special education teachers and speech therapists have left Alamance County to work in surrounding counties for more compensation…It’s difficult to provide a quality education when there are no teachers or therapists available at a school…You can be part of the solution to addressing the special education crisis.”
Tasha Miles, an 18-year employee of ABSS, urged the commissioners to rethink their financial priories to ensure that there’s enough money to adequately compensate school system staff like bus drivers and nurses.
“The pay is ridiculous. Our surrounding counties pay more and they also support their systems. The staff at ABSS need you to put your feelings aside and think about the students and staff who make the school system successful . . . Before cutting our budget, remember, you’re not only hurting our staff but you’re hurting our students.”
– Tasha Miles
“The pay is ridiculous. Our surrounding counties pay more and they also support their systems,” she added. “The staff at ABSS need you to put your feelings aside and think about the students and staff who make the school system successful…Before cutting our budget, remember, you’re not only hurting our staff but you’re hurting our students.”
Lasonya Moffett, a social worker at Walter Williams High School, said she has been on tenterhooks since 2024 when she was told that her own job would be on the chopping block.
“A lot of our social workers have left because of the cuts. . . Right now we have about 20 social workers and a majority of them – 17 – have more than one school. . . We want to be there for the students and the families of the students but it’s very difficult for us to support them physically, emotionally, and mentally when we’re not in the building.”
– Lasonya Moffett
She added that similar anxiety has resulted in numerous defections among her professional colleagues. “A lot of our social workers have left because of the cuts…Right now we have about 20 social workers and a majority of them – 17 – have more than one school…We want to be there for the students and the families of the students but it’s very difficult for us to support them physically, emotionally, and mentally when we’re not in the building.”
Meanwhile, Hillary Messer, an elementary school teacher who recently moved to North Carolina from Florida, insisted that officials in Alamance County could learn a thing or two from the Sunshine State about the importance of adequate pay in public education.
“Coming from a state where they put education higher [florida], I can really see the difference.”
– Hillary Messer
“Coming from a state where they put education higher,” she added, “I can really see the difference.”
Disquiet in the libraries
Aside from the school system’s supporters, the commissioners heard from several residents with concerns about the financial prospects of Alamance County’s libraries.
Earlier this month, commissioner Ed Priola raised the suggestion that the county could yield its role in funding the local library system to the cities which are home to its four branches.
The county has traditionally provided funds to staff these libraries once its municipalities have put up the cash to build and maintain the facilities. At the moment, this interjurisdictional compact allows libraries to operate in Graham, Mebane, and Burlington’s North Park in addition to May Memorial – the system’s central branch in Burlington’s downtown business district.
The news that one of the commissioners had proposed to end this customary arrangement snagged the attention of Barbara Roberts, a long-time member of the Friends of Alamance County’s Libraries.
“After seeing the article in The Alamance News, I felt that I should not be part of the silence of the good people because the good people of Alamance County deserve a strong public library system. . . 2025 is the 100th year that we’ve had public libraries in Alamance County, and it’s always been the Alamance County libraries.”
– Barbara Roberts
“After seeing the article in The Alamance News,” Roberts told the county’s governing board, “I felt that I should not be part of the silence of the good people because the good people of Alamance County deserve a strong public library system. . . 2025 is the 100th year that we’ve had public libraries in Alamance County, and it’s always been the Alamance County libraries.”
Meanwhile, Donna Vanhook, an elected member of the county’s board of soil and water conservation supervisors, reminded the commissioners that the local library system provides services like Internet access that go above and beyond a lending library’s traditional role.
“I want you to know the library is about more than checking out books. The public library does provide essential services. Those essential services are needed and they keep our community resilient.”
– Donna Vanhook
“I want you to know the library is about more than checking out books,” she added. “The public library does provide essential services. Those essential services are needed and they keep our community resilient.”
The county’s potential divestment from its libraries also drew a harrumph from Scott Ward, who recently retired as the county’s webmaster. Ward objected that the devolution of this role to cities and towns could imperil library access for people who live in unincorporated parts of the county.
“Now that I’m a regular ol’ citizen is that I don’t know how that money is spent. We need better access to the numbers [because] the numbers tell the truth of the story.”
– Scott Ward
Ward also encouraged the commissioners to set up an online “dashboard” to provide residents who don’t currently work for the county with real time access to information about the county government’s finances.
“Now that I’m a regular ol’ citizen is that I don’t know how that money is spent,” he added. “We need better access to the numbers [because] the numbers tell the truth of the story.”
The commissioners also heard from one resident on Monday who had some misgivings about a potential property tax increase.
Sammy Moser urged the county’s governing board not to forget about their taxpaying constituents as they wrestle with the needs of school children and other beneficiaries of the county’s annual outlays.
“I want to ask you, commissioners, to please work hard not to increase our taxes again. . . [because] our high school students, in a few short years, are going to be bearing the burden for the tax increases.”
– Sammy Moser
“We want the county commissioners to adequately fund our school system. Our heart bleeds for our children,” he said. “But I want to ask you, commissioners, to please work hard not to increase our taxes again…[because] our high school students, in a few short years, are going to be bearing the burden for the tax increases.”
