CLI: Center for Local Innovation Director, Chad Adams
Watts: Dudley Watts, Granville County Manager
CLI: Granville County is really within a short distance of the entire RTP area of the state. And although commuters may frequent the county, it still maintains its rural nature. What are the challenges that your county has faced with the boom in growth in nearby Durham, Orange and Wake County?
Watts: From a management perspective, competing for employees is difficult. We see this with detention officers, law enforcement officers, and paramedics. We also compete for schoolteachers and have had to raise the locally funded supplement. Trying to match the urban county’s local teacher supplement is a huge challenge.
The County Commissioners enjoy the County’s rural character and value this identity. All of the growth pressures from the metropolitan area create huge governance challenges such as land use planning and the deliverance of services to meet the demands of growth. Combined with this is the necessity to responding to the growth pressures in a manner that is satisfactory with the long-time citizens, yet meets the higher expectations of the newer residents. To some extent, the biggest factor in meeting the pressures of growth is folks just getting along. The long-time citizens feel like they have already built schools, libraries, EMS stations, etc. To some extent, they resent having to build schools for newcomers. This is one reason why the school impact fees are appealing.
CLI: According to the By The Numbers report, generated by CLI, Granville has one of the lower tax burdens in NC. To what do you attribute your relatively low tax burden?
Watts: Fortunately Granville County worked to recruit a diverse industry many years ago. That, combined with the impact of Butner as an employer, has resulted in the county being a net job producer, rather than simply a bedroom community of the metropolitan area. We have our own identity as a place where you can work and live. The strong industrial base certainly plays a big role.
Other impacts are really part of the organizational culture that the Board has been able to create and maintain. The first is an effort to avoid creating a “spend it or lose it” culture. Department managers are rewarded for reverting funds at year-end, rather than spending the funds to avoid losing them. During budget meetings, we generally budget off budget numbers, rather than expending a lot of effort trying to figure out how to cut a budget.
Each year the appropriated fund balance is a target for reversions – so there is a clear management objective to revert at least this much. The second sounds a little goofy — we ask employees to think about how people in the community would feel about how funds are spent. Essentially, if they went out and asked ten rational taxpayers if something is a good use of their funds, what answer would you get? The Board also approves non-routine purchases that exceed $5,000. This keeps a lot of eyes on how local funds are used and answers many questions before they have to be asked.
CLI: Many counties across the state have been squeezed with a variety of mandates from the state like Medicaid spending. What innovative approaches have you employed to deal with these mandates? What changes have you made to adapt?
Watts: Our budget process includes these mandates in a continuation budget that the Board reviews separately and distinctly from the service expansion/reduction budget. Since these mandates are not optional, funding is set aside first for these programs.
Most all of the policy decisions the Board makes are included in the Service Expansion/Reduction budget that quantifies everything from a new software program for tracking permits in planning to new law enforcement or EMS personnel. The net impact of mandates is that it reduces any funding that may be available for non-mandated programs that directly impact quality of life or simply keeps the property tax rate higher than it would otherwise be.
CLI: Granville would appear to have a difficult time competing with large metro counties like Durham or Wake, but the quality and pace of life seem to be desirable to the local population. How do you see Granville changing over the next 12 months; the next 5-10 years? What do you think you need to do?
Watts: The influx of new citizens will change the look and feel of Granville County – somewhat in 12 months and significantly in the 5- to 10-year time frame. The Board has invested in staff to do the short and long range planning that needs to be done.
They have adopted a Greenway Master Plan that creates a vision of Granville County as a place where destinations can be reached by walking or biking, rather than relying on cars and trucks. Our economic development program is strong and focused – so I believe that we will continue to create job growth that complements the residential and commercial growth. The bottom line is that the Board’s reaction to growth has been to invest time and resources in planning. The Board is actively looking at larger lot sizes to retain the rural character of the County. The Board is looking at an adequate public facilities ordinance – to ensure that sufficient public facilities are in place before the building permits are issued.
CLI: All of the towns in Granville (Oxford, Creedmoor, Stem and Stovall) have populations below 9,000. In fact, other than Oxford, they have less than 3,000. With 80 percent of the county living in unincorporated areas, what are your challenges in delivering law enforcement or fire protection countywide? Is there anything you feel you’re doing that is novel or unique?
Watts: We’re lucky to have a strong Sheriff who is a good people and resource manager. He has built a staff that is well-trained, well-equipped, and does a great job serving the County. The Board supports a vehicle replacement fund for all departments, but the Sheriff’s department is impacted the most. The replacement fund essentially sets aside sufficient funds to replace each vehicle after a certain period.
This funding is part of the continuation budget, so the Sheriff does not have to worry about whether or not his officers are riding in a safe vehicle. He can focus his energies on staffing and other matters. From a financial perspective this program flattens out the annual expenditures and avoids erratic shifts in funding levels from year to year for vehicle purchases.
The County is served by 13 volunteer departments that do an outstanding job. In the last five years, many of the VFD became EMS first responder departments, reducing the response time for an ambulance and saving lives. The funding for the volunteer fire departments is based on the projected growth in the tax base, which has automatically increased funding for these departments each year. This has resulted in the VFD Chiefs being better able to plan for their department’s expenses.
CLI: Camden county has just become the first county in the state to be granted the power to be a Unified Government, meaning they have both county and city designations countywide. This was granted by citizen referendum. Do you foresee other counties pursuing such options? What about your county?
Watts: It’s interesting, and I admit that I am not very knowledgeable about the Camden referendum. I think citizens generally do not care who provides the services, but rather that they are provided efficiently and effectively. The Granville Board has consolidated some services – particularly water and sewer with the new South Granville Water and Sewer Authority. I know that a lot of the friction with cities and counties emanates from the need to maintain character and identity. Granville is so spread out and the municipalities are so unique that it would seem unlikely.
CLI: School construction is a big topic in local government with costs far exceeding inflation and population growth. With a relatively stable population, what are the challenges in Granville with respect to county funding of capital and recurring expenses?
Watts: I’ve mentioned it a lot lately: current revenues available to counties like Granville – essentially the property tax and sales tax – are sufficient to fund the eight or nine mandated local government responsibilities for schools. These revenues may even be sufficient to fund the local supplements that are required to stay competitive with the metropolitan areas, but they are not sufficient to build the new schools to meet the population growth.
Granville has relied on a revenue sufficiency model that includes both operational and capital needs. A new revenue source (such as development fees) makes sense because it ties the need (the new school) to the revenue source (the new house). The Board piggybacked on the Durham County impact fee ordinance and was not successful. We are currently in the process of returning about $318,000 that could have built a couple of classrooms. In the wake of the Court of Appeals decision in the Durham case, the Board has appointed several Board members to study the options available.
CLI: And finally, looking forward, what do you think will be the most significant challenges facing rural counties over the next decade, and what should folks do to prepare for those challenges?
Watts: Every county has it’s own unique issues and challenges, but I think meeting the needs of the aging population will be a real challenge for all of us over the next decade. As far as the big picture, most of the challenges that counties face are products of the legislature. So when the legislature does something say, for a special interest group, that affects folks at the grass-roots level, counties are really where the impact is felt most directly. How do you prepare for challenges imposed by the legislature? I wish I knew.
Dudley Watts, Biography:
Dudley Watts was born in Sanford, NC. He attended NCSU and received a BS in Economics w/ tech option in Computer Science. After managing subsidized housing for several years, he became interested in local government while working with city and county managers.
He then attended graduate school at UNC-CH and received a Masters in Public Administration.
Following completion of his studies, he worked for four years with DMG (a private consulting firm), doing efficiency studies and operational reviews around the country.
Dudley also worked as an Assistant County Manager in Pender County for John Bauer for several years. Currently, he is just finishing his 9th year with Granville County.
Dudley is married and has four kids (ages: 11, 9, 7, 6) who grab the lion’s share of his free time. His wife is a writer and strings for lots of publications.