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COUNTY BUDGET SURPRISE:
Johnston's schools and JCCollege get what
they asked for, yet property-tax rate cut by 4¢

Not only that, but the 2023-24 budget resolution adopted unanimously by the County Commissioners Monday evening funded in full most requests from a number of organizations outside the realm of County Government. (Behind-the-scenes negotiations led to approval of the schools' request as no give-and-take among commissioners and school board members took place at any of the county's recent budget sessions.)

This year's property-tax rate has been reduced from 73 cents to 69 cents per $100 valuation. For a typical residence valued at $300,000, the county's portion of property taxes due next January will be cut $120 – from $2,190 to $2,070.

Johnston County Public Schools will get full funding for operating expenses requested by the Board of Education: $88,497,179 – up from the current year's $85,573,000. The school board asked for $10 million for capital projects; the commissioners approved $6 million, but there's another $4 million in the new budget for 9-1-1 Communications to undertake "operability improvements in schools."

Johnston Community College will get all that its Board of Trustees requested: $6,912,390 for operations and $1.2 million for capital projects. Those numbers are up from the current year's $6,028,933 for operations and $1,090,943 for capital.

The new budget resolution includes a 5% pay raise for county employees July 1 "with the possibility of a 2% performance-pay adjustment in October." It raises the salary of County Manager Rick Hester by 9% to $257,451 and the salary of County Attorney Jennifer Slusser by 10% to $200,000. The budget provides funding for 28 new full-time positions in the General Fund and 11 in the Public Utilities Enterprise Fund. The county manager's introductory budget message provides the list>

Also raised is annual compensation for county commissioners – to $29,834 (up 47%) plus travel allowance of $8,400 for the chairman and $23,834 (up 38%) plus travel allowance of $6,000 for the other six board members. Explained Lu Hickey, the county's director of Human Resources: "The commissioners' positions were compared to counties that are similar in size to ours as well as those that are neighboring. The data was collected from the salary survey conducted by the North Carolina School of Government and salaries were adjusted to the average rate."

The 2023-24 budget includes a one-time appropriation of $650,000 to the county's Solid Waste Fund "to transition away from the decal program" at rural convenience centers by June 30, 2024. Toward that end, vehicle decals required to dump garbage at those centers will be sold quarterly on a prorated basis starting this July.

Commissioners approved a one-time $4.2-million allocation for the next phase of a "funding matrix" to bring lagging rural fire departments up to agreed-upon standards of service. Next up is a move toward a single countywide fire-protection service district with a single property-tax rate in place of 23 separate districts with varying tax rates. At the same time, the board approved higher property-tax rates for several of the districts in the year ahead: Brogden, 12 cents per $100 valuation; Selma, 13; Antioch, 10; North Side, 12; Wilson's Mills, 8; Claytex, 15; and 50/210, 9.5 cents.

The board's budget resolution appropriates $550,000 to the Johnston County Economic Development Corporation to boost a JoCo Building Reuse Program aimed at new or expanding businesses.

Commissioners approved an extra $50,000 to the county's Veterans Services Office to assist local veterans with transportation to VA hospitals. Community and Senior Services will get an additional $12,000 to match a Home and Community Care grant.

Special appropriations in the new budget outside County Government:
• $180,000 to the Town of Micro for a new community building.
• $325,000 to Harbor of Johnston County, sheltering victims of domestic violence.
• $100,000 to Project Access, extending health care to uninsured Johnstonians.
• $100,000 to My Kids Club, serving disadvantaged youth in Selma and Smithfield.
• $100,000 to the Princeton Little Tar Heel League for new restrooms.
• $45,000 to the Smithfield Rescue Mission, serving homeless men and women.
• $825,000 to the Triangle Land Conservancy for acquisitions and easements. TLC issued a statement about the impact of that appropriation: "The budget allocation to TLC will help support the permanent protection of over 300 acres of family farms as well as 200+ additional acres of important habitat along the Neuse and other rivers."

To balance the proposed budget from County Manager Rick Hester that did not include full funding for the schools as well as many of the special appropriations, the commissioners' resolution adopted Monday cut expenditures by $22 million. Of that amount, "we had about $12 million in reductions from funds designated for general capital outlay," Mr. Hester explained in a follow-up e-mail to the Weekly Sun. "We also had included $6 million for part of the construction of the new Four Oaks skills-training center but realized with the timing of things those funded aren't needed now. Obviously, that commitment will be kept. The other $4 million of the $22 million will likely come from funds we don't think we will use next year that are in the countywide general payroll account and from the economic development incentive fund."

Mr. Hester said an appropriation of about $8 million from the county's General Fund Balance will be required to underwrite the new budget.

County raises water and sewer rates, landfill fees

Along with adoption of the budget, the County Commissioners Monday ratified a new schedule of fees that include modest increases in rates for water and sewer service and disposal of garbage and trash at the county's landfill.

Starting September 1, a typical residential water customer served by the county's system will see a $2 increase in the monthly basic charge plus 25 cents more per 1,000 gallons consumed. The monthly charge for sewer service will go up $1.

The Town of Smithfield will see increases September 1 in what the county charges for bulk sewage treatment – 77 cents per 1,000 gallons, up from 73 cents, for transmission and $3.45 per 1,000 gallons, up from $3.31, for treatment. (Those increases will be passed along to the town's sewer customers.)

Starting August 1, the county's landfill tipping fee will rise $1, to $45 per ton, while the fee for yard waste will go up $2, from $18 to $20. (As a result, Smithfield's monthly charge for garbage and trash collection will go up $1.)
 

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Clayton High had largest graduating class

Corinth Holders High School has been Johnston County's largest in terms of enrollment in recent times, but Clayton High produced this year's largest graduating class – barely overtaking Corinth Holders. Cleveland High had the third largest class; Smithfield-Selma High ranked fourth.

Here are the standings, ranked by numbers of graduates, for all of Johnston's public high schools and alternative high-school programs:

Clayton High – 507.
Corinth Holders High – 502.
Cleveland High – 465.
Smithfield-Selma High – 352 (counting January's graduates).
South Johnston High – 315.
West Johnston High – 304.
North Johnston High – 175.
Princeton High – 131.
Johnston County Virtual Academy – 87.
Johnston County Career and Technical Leadership Academy – 54.
Johnston County Early College Academy – 40.
Choice Plus Academy – 7.
 

A new principal at South Smithfield

Chad McLamb has been appointed principal of South Smithfield Elementary School by the Johnston County Board of Education. He is moving from Corinth-Holders Elementary where he served as principal this past school year. "I am so excited to become a part of the South Smithfield Elementary family," said Mr. McLamb in a Facebook posting by Johnston County Public Schools. "This school is special, and one of the true community schools we have here in JCPS. I'm looking forward to working with the students, staff, and families to continue doing great things!"


All students at 43 public schools to get free meals

Johnston's Board of Education at its monthly meeting last week authorized staff to expand the school system's free breakfast and lunch program to make all students eligible for free meals at all but five of Johnston's 48 public schools in the year ahead. Included are all the schools in and around Smithfield.

Jennifer Lawson, the schools' director of nutrition, said Community Eligibility Provisions (CEP) under the federal nutrition program allow extension of free meals to all students at schools where at least 40% have been receiving free meals based on household incomes. Johnston County Public Schools as a whole have a percentage of 36.79%, she reported, but that rises above the 40% threshold when five schools are taken out of the equation: Clayton High, Cleveland Elementary, Cleveland High, Corinth Holders High, and Powhatan Elementary.

As a result, Johnston can apply for CEP assistance at the remaining 43 school campuses, Ms. Lawson said. The county may have to cover some of the expanded program's expense, depending on student participation and federal eligibility limits, but staff has identified ESSER funding coupled with savings from unfilled personnel vacancies as sources for covering any shortfall, she noted. (ESSER is federal Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief funding the county has already received in response to the COVID pandemic.)

No one will be required to file an application to get free meals at the 43 schools, but the eligibility process will continue in order to qualify students for free or reduced-price meals at the other five schools.

Ms. Lawson said the free-meals program will be re-evaluated each spring and can be stopped or modified if things don't work out as anticipated. The school board approved the plan by unanimous vote.

All children 18 and under offered free meals this summer

Starting this week through July 13, any and all Johnston County children up to 18 years of age may get free meals distributed Monday-Thursday at 17 of Johnston County's public schools, courtesy of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The sites include Smithfield-Selma High School, Smithfield Middle, Selma Middle, Selma Elementary, and West Smithfield Elementary. Breakfast will be served 7-8 a.m. and lunch 11 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. No application, registration, or proof of citizenship is required to receive the free meals.

UNC Health doctors donate funds for middle-school AEDs

Dr. Richard Alioto (shown in a screenshot) presented a check for $20,000 to the Board of Education last week to make sure every middle school in the county is equipped with AEDs, which are easy-to-use automated external defibrillators for treating sudden cardiac arrest. The donation comes from the medical staff of UNC Health Johnston.

"In my 25 years of covering sports in Johnston County," said Dr. Alioto of UNC Orthopedic and Sports Medicine at Clayton, "I am aware of multiple events where either an individual athlete, a family member, or school member was in need of emergency service and the use of an AED device." He said Johnston's medical staff identified the middle-school need in light of last year's highly publicized incident involving a professional football player.

Dr. Alioto said the doctors found the number of AEDs in Johnston's high schools "both appropriate and well distributed," but not so much in middle schools that also field athletic teams. "It's no longer acceptable that we don't have those devices available in our community," he declared.
 

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OPEN HOUSE
1 to 3 p.m.
SATURDAY

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WHAT'S COMING UP?

"Piano Fireworks" at the new amphitheater this Friday

Locally renowned pianist Jonathan Levin, director of the Clayton Piano Festival, will present "Piano Fireworks: A Celebration of American Piano Music," at 7 p.m. Friday at the recently reconstructed Neuse River Amphitheater. His performance will be free of admission charge.

The amphitheater will also be the scene of Downtown Smithfield's Independence Celebration starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 2, concluding with fireworks around 9:15.

Downtown Farmers Market continues this Saturday

The Town of Smithfield has approved the market's operation along the 100 block of South Third Street on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month through the middle of October. Beyond this Saturday, upcoming dates are July 8 and 22, August 12 and 26, September 9 and 23, and October 14. Market hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Public schools' Trades & Classified Job Fair Saturday

Johnston County Public Schools will hold a Trades & Classified Job Fair from 9 a.m. till noon this Saturday at Smithfield-Selma High School. Participants will be able to talk with representatives from various departments about career opportunities as auto and diesel mechanics, bus drivers, carpenters, custodians, electricians, locksmiths, office staffers, painters, plumbers, school nutrition assistants, teacher assistants, technology specialists, and others in fields like HVAC/Refrigeration, General Services/Warehouse, and Grounds. Pre-registration is available at www.johnston.k12.nc.us/tradesjobfair>

Nice evening
for last Friday's
Third StrEATery

The skies were mostly blue and the tables were mostly filled for last Friday's second in this year's series of outdoor dining and entertainment events on South Third Street Downtown.
You'll have to wait till September 15 for the next installment featuring Beach Music's Band of Oz. Trial by Fire, a Journey tribute band, is scheduled for October 20 to finish up the season. (Photo from Historic Downtown Smithfield Facebook page)
 

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DEATHS & FUNERALS

Click on the name to read an obituary, usually posted by the funeral home

ESTELLE PENNELL PEARCE, 91 – died June 17

LINDA MAE TANT BAKER, 73 – died June 15

CARLEA RAE LITTLE, 36 – died June 14

JEAN PEEDIN THOMPSON, 75 – died June 14

 

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A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR

Smallest graduating class in Johnston's history?

Perhaps not if you include the old days of one-room schools, yet the 16 graduates of Wilson's Mills High School in 1969 likely made history as Johnston County's smallest – in modern times, at least.

Kaye Ward Heroux, a Weekly Sun reader, brought that to our attention in response to last week's editorial commentary related to newly consolidated North Johnston High's claim to fame for having the largest classes in the late 1960s.

"I was was a member of the 1968 graduating class at Wilson’s Mills and there were 17 graduates in my class," Rev. Heroux wrote. "Our class reunions have always been a lot of fun as no one in our class married anyone in our class! We have all kept up with each other during the years and we have lost five."

Wilson's Mills was one of six high schools closed for consolidation into what was initially named Smithfield-Selma Senior High School (we had junior highs back then).
In addition to the 16 graduates at Wilson's Mills in those final classes in 1969, Smithfield High had 120 graduates, Richard B. Harrison (in Selma) 91, Selma High 73, Johnston Central (in Smithfield) 68, and Corinth-Holder High 40 (that's the way the school spelled its name back then).

Meanwhile, five high schools were closed by consolidation into South Johnston High in 1969. In their final classes, Four Oaks High had 99 graduates, Benson 86, Meadow 40, Forest Hill (at Four Oaks) 34, and Cleveland High 31.

Clayton High had 77 graduates in '69 while Cooper High (also in Clayton) had 51 in its last class before consolidation. Princeton High, unaffected by the consolidations that followed, had 60 graduates in 1969 while North Johnston had 135.

The number of graduates in all of Johnston County that year totaled 1,021. Compare that to the total of 2,939 this year. More impressive is the fact that Johnston County's population has almost quadrupled over the past half century – from 61,737 in 1970 to 234,778, according to latest U.S. Census estimate from last July.


Here's a photo of the main building at Wilson's Mills High School that was demolished a quarter century ago to make way for present-day Wilson's Mills Elementary School. The picture comes from the school's 1960 yearbook, one of several published between 1950 and 1969 that may be viewed online through an archival website based at the UNC library: DigitalNC>
 

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