Tussle expected over Wake schools budget

A proposed 2.5-cent tax increase gives the schools far less than they sought

RALEIGH -- In an annual showdown as predictable as the coming solstice, Wake County's two elected boards girded for a tussle Monday.

County Manager David Cooke proposed a 2.5-cent tax increase to the Wake commissioners as part of a 2009 budget that he billed as a boon for education, which he called the top priority. The proposed $18.5 million increase for schools, however, falls far short of the $54.8 million increase requested by the county school board, setting the stage for the usual wrangling between groups with a long history of acrimony.

School Board Chairwoman Rosa Gill could not be reached Monday.

Beverly Clark, vice chairwoman of the school board, called Cooke's proposal "disappointing" and said his figure was too low to build a "world-class" school system.

Cooke said his budget would raise school spending by 6.15 percent, more than he recommended for any county department. Meeting the school board's full request would consume all the new revenue projected for the next fiscal year, even with the proposed 2.5-cent tax increase.

To give the school board all it wanted, Cooke said, would require more than doubling the proposed tax increase to 5.5 cents -- a steep raise he said would be unwise in a strained economy.

Sales-tax revenues are predicted to decline as consumer spending slows. Cooke's budget cuts vacant positions in the city-county planning and inspections departments -- positions no longer needed as construction wanes.

"Every funding decision we make is conscious and measured," the county manager said.

Cooke's $984 million budget would set the county's tax rate at 53.4 cents per $100 of property value. If approved, that would boost the tax bill for a $250,000 house by $62.50 annually, not including the increase many homeowners will face as a result of revaluation. On average, the tax value of real estate in Wake County rose 43 percent in the first county wide revaluation in eight years.

In February, most commissioners said they would support a 2009 tax rate of no more than 50.9 cents per $100 in value, the rate needed to keep the county's property-tax revenue equal to the amount raised by the pre-revaluation tax rate of 67.8 cents.

Approving the "revenue-neutral" rate would result in shortfalls for priorities voters approved in recent bond referendums, Cooke said -- primarily debt payments for school bonds approved in 2007 and 2008 bonds for Wake Technical Community College, libraries and open space preservation.

Voters were told to expect higher taxes when they voted to approve the bonds, Cooke said.

Other initiatives

The budget proposal pays for initiatives the commissioners have already agreed to, including more one-stop voting sites for the November election, staffing at two new regional libraries and a program started by Sheriff Donnie Harrison to identify illegal aliens at the county jail for potential deportation.

Cooke's budget also includes a proposed expansion of the county animal shelter and provide for more ambulances and EMS crews to work during peak hours.

Clark, the school board member, argued that the commissioners could fulfill the schools' entire request without raising taxes if they would look for "efficiencies" in other county operations.

She suggested money could be saved by merging the Wake Sheriff's Office with the many municipal police departments in the county. Charlotte-Mecklenburg has a consolidated public safety department, but the idea has not been popular in Wake.

"The sheriff runs a good organization but ... as a Raleigh resident, I pay for that and pay for the Raleigh Police Department," Clark said.

As for trimming the school system's budget, Clark said, a large part of the requested increase is needed to pay for state-mandated requirements.

"There's very little cushion," she said.

Cooke pointed out the schools overestimated enrollment by 2,290 students last year, resulting in $5.7 million more in county support than was warranted. Though the extra students never materialized, the school board spent the money.

Commissioners' Chairman Joe Bryan, who cast the deciding vote last year to give the schools $6 million more than Cooke had recommended, said the current economic environment called for keeping taxes as low as possible.

This year, he said, finding a majority on the seven-member county board willing to grant the schools more than Cooke proposed is unlikely.

"This is a year for people to tighten their belts," Bryan said. "The manager proposed a responsible budget with a modest increase, and I believe it will be a major effort for anyone to find four votes to change it significantly."