Sitting in his boat out in the marsh, his fishing rod and tackle his only companion, sun on his back and a light breeze blowing across the water sans ringing phones and the sound of clicking keys and paper running through an adding machine — this is David Clack’s retirement dream.
Clack, Sampson County’s finance director, announced his retirement less than a week ago, and this week he’s looking forward to a less stressful way of life.
“I’m going fishing!” Clack laughed, when pressed on the issue. “I have a boat that I don’t use enough, so I am going to use it more.”
After a 30-year career with Sampson County government, Clack is putting away his calculator and spreadsheets, and replacing them with a fishing rod and bait.
“Personally, I just wanted a change,” he explained. “I don’t really know what I am going to do right now, except fish, but it’s time for a change, for me.”
Clack, a Clinton native, has lived here most of his life. A graduate of Clinton High School, he left Sampson County for the halls of higher learning at UNC Wilmington, graduating with a degree in accounting in 1988, and from there, he took a job in accounting at a small CPA firm in Raeford, doing taxes and auditing.
“One of their clients at the time was Clinton City Schools, so I was able to get back to Clinton helping with that client,” Clack recalled.
Soon, he had an opportunity to move back to his hometown, working in Clinton for the firm Black and Bass. One of their clients was Sampson County government.
“I decided I was going to leave the CPA firm because I wasn’t enjoying taxes — it wasn’t difficult, I just wanted to make a change,” Clack said of his early years. It was then, in August 1994, that the opportunity arose to work for the county, as an eternal auditor.
“Syliva Blinson is a very well respected person; she was the finance officer at the time, and she was my boss. She taught me a lot. Of course, the county has always been generous training employees.”
He said he started taking the various classes that finance employees take to get certified and became a North Carolina certified local government finance officer in the process.
“I thought it was very exciting, learning more about how government works — like any part of government, there are politics involved. What one person wants to do someone else doesn’t want to do,” he laughed. “You never could hit the right sport, it seems like, if you ended up proposing a tax increase it was always very interesting.”
He said learning about government debt, the county’s fiscal relationship to the schools, and other entities closely tied to the county, but not part of the county government, was very educational
“When they (they school systems) talk about local funding every year for budget purposes, the money they get form the county comes from us, and we have to make sure we’re funding both systems relatively the same,” he said, explaining that’s why the money allocated to schools is based on per pupil enrollment.
Clack said the most difficult parts of his job have been issues related to the annual budget, getting information out to other departments, getting it back, going through it and deciding where to cut costs and where to increase the budget, “Anything like gas prices might suddenly shoot up, then we have to rearrange things.” he said.
“Going in, you have a really good idea where your tax dollars are going, but generally when things change it makes a difference and I have to adjust accordingly,” he added. “Some years go pretty smoothly, but some years are not so smooth.”
Looking back at his three-decade career with the county, the most challenging of times were during the Great Recession. “We had almost no growth in the tax base, while fighting increasing cost with little revenue to go with it.”
Clack said the second most challenging time was during the COVID years and competing with other counties for the same employees.
“Lately, looking at the pandemic and inflation with it as high as it is, we have had to adjust county salaries so much it’s created a hardship on the county to keep up cost of living and retaining our people, while also hiring new ones when employees leave,” he explained. “There’s always some department facing a hardship, and every time we raise salaries all the counties around us make adjustment in theirs, so we’re just constantly chasing each other; we’re chasing after the same people.”
Clack has many fond memories of working for Sampson County, and many of those moments include knowing what he did made a difference for the residents.
“My favorite thing was when we put together the financial to build the three high schools and an elementary school,”he said. “When we would go out to the bond market to borrow money, we had to convince people to invest in Sampson County — going through that process, I really enjoyed doing that.”
Clack said refunding those debts was also one of the more enjoyable parts of his job, knowing that Sampson is worth investing in because they are a good return on investment.
“We had more people willing to buy debt than the debt we had — which says a lot about us (Sampson County). It makes you proud when S&P and Moody’s think your county is worth investing in. It feels good,” he said, smiling. “When you know you helped save the county millions of dollar, it really is a satisfying feeling.”
As for the future of Sampson County government without David Clack?
“What I hope for the county, after I’m gone, is that the new (county commissioners) boards going forward will be much like the ones we have had in the past, (people) that show they know how to govern responsibly. We’ve had boards that have really shown responsibility, and I hope that continues,” he added.
Clack said Sampson County has always developed its budget on a responsible by-line budget, based on what is available. Fiscal responsibility is important down to the number of boxes of desk supplies, such as pens and tissue paper.
“That’s why we have a 900-page recommended budget, and it’s been that way since I have been with the county,” he laughed, thinking back at watching county commissioners walking out to their cars with a 900 page budget to review.
Now, as he looks forward, he’s ready to have more time to relax.
“I’m going fishing!” he reiterated, laughing again.
He’s a saltwater fisherman, but does both.
“I have gone several times out to the Pamlico Sound to fish for red drum, but I really like the intracoastal area from Ocean Isle to South Carolina.”
As a resident of Sampson County, he said when he leaves his position he will stay in-the-know, and go to meetings as a private citizen once in a while, like others do. “If you need to express your opinion, then it’s important you do so.”
He said people didn’t always show up to meetings like they do now. Only in the past decade, or less, people have begun to voice their opinion on taxes and spending.
“It’s become more evident to residents now to show up to express their opinion, or speak out against something they don’t like — and to suggest things such as housing programs, more deputies, less spending, or if they need water.”
But he doesn’t plan on keeping a close eye on the next person that follows in his footsteps. His place is not to be critical, he said, nor supportive of the choices made by his successor. He will just respect their choice, and let them do their job, Clack asserted.
“The fact that no matter what the county does, there’s going to be a financial aspect to it — good or bad — and how those decision might affect what you can or can’t do in the future … the local government is important for what it does for its citizens — and most people don’t realize how important local government is until it is needed during a crisis or emergency,”
Clack and the county had a pristine audit recently, one he said he was proud of, yet he gave all the credit to the county employees, as a whole, praising their responsibility with their spending.
“We’re always proud of the job they do. In addition to the lack of any findings of the audit, the county has also been able to add money to their fund balance. That is attributable to our department heads and staff. That makes a huge difference.”
He said the first Monday morning after he retires, “I’ll probably go down to Ocean Isle to go fishing if it’s not too cold. I’ll just be happy that I wont have anything I have to do that day, only things I want to do.”
Clack picked Dec. 31 to retire for an easy transition. The person to take Clack’s place will start the new year with a hand in developing the budget instead of jumping in during the middle of the budget process.
“It’s just better. They have part of the fact they’ll finish out part of this fiscal year, but then the new budget will be theirs, and with a new board there will be new members to work with; it’ll just make things easier on the new person.”
Clack mentioned that his coworkers have been very supportive of his exit at the end of they year.
“Some people have called me and asked if I am really leaving — or asked me not to leave, but they do understand that 30 years is 30 years,” he laughed.