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County faces major revenue shortfall
Employees to face
10% cut in hours *
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer '
Facing a massive budget
shortfall, county officials
furloughed all employees,
cutting their work hours by
one day per -two week pay
period through June 30.
Also cut was $413,000 from
the county’s school budget.
photos by BRETT A. CLARK/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Local volunteers watch clips from the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Friday as part of the presentation for
the show making over an area family's home . The mystery home selection will take place Friday. Above right, lead
builder John Norris talks to volunteers for the home project during the rally at Edenton United Methodist Church.
Citizens and first responders
question cut in working hours
"God knows this
is hard, hut be as
sured that if that call
comes in, it's going
to be answered."
— commissioner
Jimmy Alligood
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
;", Among the cuts an
nounced during Monday’s
county commission meet
ing was a controversial re
'duction in working hours
‘for the county’s first re
sponders.
All counfy workers will
0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Shrinking sales tax reve
nues and program cost over
runs forced the measure as
Chowan’s commissioners
sought to trim $970,000 from
the remainder of this fiscal
year.
Breaking the news
The announcement was
made in a stormy meeting
of the county commission
Monday night that saw bit
ter complaints from EMS
have their hours cut by
two days each month,
chopping the payroll by
10 percent.
But cuts to the county’s
sheriffs department and
emergency medical ser
vices got an immediate
public reaction.
The reductions brought,
a storm of protests by
citizens and EMS tech
nicians who warned the
cuts might cause delays
in emergency services.
Some EMS personnel
rose to express concerns
they might be forced to re
turn to their station at the
end of a shift even if an
emergency occurred near
their current location. .
County Manager Peter
Rascoe assured commis
sioners he had met with
EMS director Angela Top
pin and had been assured
that there was no reason
technicians who said the
cutbacks could hurt public
safety.
County Manager Peter
Rascoe said. a 30 percent
reduction in sales tax rev
enues brought on by the
national recession was the
main culprit in the short
fall.
He said that until this
week, the commissioners
had been working on bal
ancing next year’s budget,
Toppin
Ailigood
Rascoe
why technicians could not
meet all emergency calls.
, But Toppin rose to dis
pute the statement. She
said she had not told Ras
coe her department could
guarantee that emergen
cy calls would be made on
time with the resources
she was being left with.
“What do we do?” she
said. “What do we do?”
“I stand by my state
ment,” Rascoe said, “that
I have no indication that
any call will go unan
swered.”
After a flurry of public
comment and questions
County employees
react to budget cuts
__ SEE BELOW
something they must do
before June 1. But all that
came to a halt when a trend
of falling tax receipts be
came obvious.
With their cash reserves
below state-mandated lev
els, the commissioners
had no room to absorb the
by EMS
techni
cians and
citizens,
R a s c o e
said, “This
is a man
agement
issue. We
will contin
ue to make this work.”
Commissioner 'Jimmy
Alligood said the county
will not! let money get be
tween a citizen and emer
gency medical care.
' “I know every one of
them (EMS technicians)
will answer that call at 7
a.m.” he said.
“We have the best group
of employees of any coun
ty around.
“God knows this is hard,
but be assured that if that
call comes in, it’s going to
be answered.”
drop in tax receipts and no
means to raise revenue over
the remaining four months
of the fiscal year.
Where the cuts are
That left only cuts in pro
grams and spending. In
addition to cutting $141,000
in employee hours, county.
programs feeling the pinch
are:
■ $413,000 from the
school system budget.
Hundreds
sign up for
‘Makeover’
By Rebecca Bunch
The Chowan Herald
Even in hard times, people
still care about helping others.
That was clear from the num
ber of people who showed up to
donate their time so one family
from our region could look for
ward to better housing.
About 350 people packed the
Family Life Center at the Eden
ton United Methodist Church
Friday morning to volunteer for
duty on the ABC reality show,
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edi
tion.”
The show’s < production
team announced Monday they
planned to spend a week com
pletely rebuilding a home for^
one area family.
In an enthusiastic wel
come, Edenton Mayor Roland
Vaughan declared, “I’m sure
this is going'to be a rip-roaring
success.”
Conrad Ricketts, co-executive
Town gets clean
audit for ‘07-’08
By Rebecca Bunch • -
Staff Writer
The town of Edenton has
received a clean audit from
its accountant for the 2007
2008 fiscal year.
“The town’s finances are
in good shape,” auditor Jim
Winston of Winston, Wil
liams, Creech, Evans and
Company told the town
council during its Feb. 23
meeting!
Town Manager Anne-Ma
rie Knighton said the audit
was recently approved by
the state Local Government
Commission.
Highlights included
■ In the General Fund,
revenues exceed expendi
tures by $195,667
■ That the town’s fund
balance increased from
$1,339,742 to $1,535,409
■ The town’s unrestrict
■ $100,000 cut from
school technology money.
■ $67,000 cut from the
social services department.
■ $47,000 in full and part
time layoffs.
■ $40,000 from the school
capital reserve fund.
■ $30,000 cut from rec
reation department pro
grams.
Other reductions came in
the form of reduced county
See BUDGET, Page A2 >
producer of the show, pointed
out that the work at the site
would run a total of 106 hours
over the seven-day period.
But the experience is worth
it, he said.
“Volunteers think they’re
coming to change somebody
else’s "life and they end up
changing their own,” Ricketts
told the group.
Participants were treated to
comments from those connect
ed with ‘Makeover,” between
clips from past episodes of the
show.
Chowan County residents
have volunteered for every
thing frbm making sure meals
are served to helping organize
volunteers.
John Norris, owner of Eden
ton Builders Inc., whose com
pany has been tapped to work
with the Extreme Makeover
crew, said he remains mystified
about how the show’s produc
See HOME, Page A2 >
ed reserve (fund balance)
improved from 20.23% to
24.5%.
The N.C. Local Govern
ment Commission requires
at least an 8% unrestricted
reserve, Winston reported.
He also reminded council
ors that “municipalities of
Edenton’s size with electric
systems have an average
fund balance of around 36
percent,” Knighton said.
“You continue to make
good progress towards your
goal of increasing the re
serves. Ideally, I want you to
be at 40 percent,” Winston
told the council
Looking at funds
According to Winston’s
findings, the town’s three
proprietary funds — elec
tric, water and sewer, and
the Northeastern Regional
Airport — all had revenues
See TOWN, Page A2 ►
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