County budget woes aired on social media

An analysis

At least two Sampson County commissioners used social media last week to discuss what appears to be budget woes the board is facing as members continue discussion about the 2025-26 fiscal plan, with one seemingly playing the blame-game and the other using graphs and charts to try to explain the situation, and urge involvement, to those reached through the platform.

In a Facebook post from late last week, new commissioner, vice chairman and former Sampson County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope, wrote, “Last year, the board of commissioners — led by former Chairman Jerol Kivett — passed a budget that had a large hole in it. To put it simply, the board budgeted $11.5 million it DID NOT have, then took money out of the county’s reserve fund to pay their deficit. Here’s what it all boils down to: By spending millions it didn’t have, the old board created a big problem. Then county manager Ed Causey resigned, Commissioner Sue Lee resigned, and with Jerol no longer on the board — they left the problem for the new board to solve.”

Pope goes on to say this: “What happens next? Chip Crumpler’s now been appointed to replace former Commissioner Sue Lee. The new board has now hired Jeffrey Hudson to be interim county manager. And we’re looking for ways to cut spending. Which is what the previous board should have done a year ago.”

He also points a finger at former finance manager David Clack, saying in the six-paragraph post, that he retired and “failed to complete an annual financial audit for the state,” a fact verified Monday by the Independent. The audit was due Oct. 31, with an extension into November, but it was not filed. Clack’s retirement was effective at the end of 2024.

The commissioners’ vice chairman then urges those who read his post to “stay tuned” as the board does a deeper dive into the budget, saying he will keep everyone informed.”

Pope ran successfully against Kivett for the commissioners’ seat he now holds and though he used social media to discuss the budget, when ask to comment on it for the paper at a budget meeting a few weeks ago, he did not comment, instead pointed a finger toward chairman Allen McLamb.

Pope failed to mention in his post that he and the current Board of Commissioners hired the new interim county manager at a price tag of $96,000 for a six-month period (Causey’s salary was in the neighborhood of $180,000 for a full 12 months) nor does he lay out that the previous Board of Commissioners voted to budget long overdue pay raises for county employees, including sheriff’s deputies and detention officers, money that had to come from the budget. He also doesn’t point out expenditures such as the approximate $350,000 in legal fees the county had to pay for a lawsuit brought by Pope and 33 other officers. Pope withdrew from the suit before deciding to run for the commissioner’s seat he now holds, and the county settled the lawsuit, paying $1,200 each to the remaining 14 plaintiffs.

Crumpler’s video post

Friday night, Crumpler posted a Facebook video of himself discussing the budget, using pie charts and graphs detailing the property tax revenue the county brings in, the tax rate, the sales tax revenue the county receives and the “rainy day” fund expenditures for the past five years.

Crumpler did not point fingers in his post, he merely shared the numbers and discussed the history of how past boards had voted on financial matters, and he urged residents to weigh in on the options they felt commissioners should look at as they prepare the upcoming fiscal plan. Cuts or tax hikes seemed to be the top two options on the table.

Crumpler’s pie chart explained what Pope’s post did not, detailing in color coding how the county’s $85 million 2024-25 budget was divided — 38 percent to public safety, 23 percent to education, 13 percent to human services, 12 percent to general government administration, 3 percent to cultural and recreation, 1 percent to economic development and 6 percent designated to pay off existing debts like the construction of the high schools, the Sheriff’s Office and the EMS facility.

He also used a chart to show how commissioners, since 2020-21, had budgeted an increasing amount of fund balance to help offset the budget amount for that fiscal year — $1.8 million in ‘20-21; $2.6 million in ‘21-22; $2 million in ‘22-23, $4.4 million in ‘23-24 and $11.5 million in ‘24-25.

Crumpler’s charts also detailed revenue the county brings in each year, noting the problems with the county taking in far less than it was budgeting year over year.

In Crumpler’s words, “as you can see, this is clearly unsustainable. The county cannot continue to sustain spending this level of money out of its contingency. It will either have to raise taxes significantly to balance the budget or we will have to cut the budget significantly.”

In his video, Crumpler said to make up the $11.5 million shortfall caused by dipping into the fund balance, it appears the county, if it didn’t cut from its current spending, would have to raise taxes for 2025-26 by 15 to 17 cents. “It could change but it would have to be somewhere in that neighborhood, 16 cent tax increase on the 62.5 cent tax rate.”

Crumpler stressed he wasn’t saying taxes would be raised, merely that it would take that much if cuts were not made this year.

Neither commissioner in their posts mentioned that the annual audit shows the county grew its fund balance during the years that the budget increased, meaning that even though fund balance (or the savings account, as Crumpler referred to it) was used to balance the budget on paper, commissioners never had to actually spend any of the rainy day fund.

The budget, any year, is merely a document that shows projected revenue and expenses; the audit shows the actual data.

The most recent audit, 2022-2023, shows that from 2018 to 2023, the fund balance actually grew from $20.6 million in 2018 to $37.5 million in 2023.

In the financial highlights of the last county audit, in 2023, it reads: “Assets and deferred outflows of resources exceeded liabilities, and deferred inflows of resources by $111,935,019. Total net position increased by $18,391,880.”

In Crumpler’s social media video, he urged involvement, even as he lamented that there were challenges that had to be faced.

“We have a decision to make as a county,” Crumpler continued in his video message Friday, “how we are going to balance this budget going forward. In the coming weeks and months, the commissioners hope to hear from you. If we decide, as a county, to cut the budget and not raise taxes, if we all decide as a county that’s what we want to do, that’s what we will look at doing. But I’m sure nobody wants to cut everything out of the budget because we have to provide for our children, our safety, the state requires we provide certain level of social services. In many regards, we are handcuffed to spend a certain amount of money. All of this to say, we have a lot of challenges before us, but if you work with us we can figure out a way forward. Please stay involved, engaged, ask questions, we want to serve you. This is your county and we are your neighbors.”

County commissioners are planning to have several budget work sessions over the coming weeks and months, all which are open to the public. The Independent will post times and dates of budget work sessions as they are provided.