Meeting Notes

We added basic notes about county government meetings to our coverage. If you have additional story ideas, please send them to reporter and photographer Eleazar “El” Yisrael at (252) 258-9434 or [email protected]

The Pamlico County Board of Commissioners held a regular bimonthly meeting April 21, 2025. The next regular meeting of the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners will be Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. at the Pamlico County Courthouse Annex. They will also attend the Board of Education’s budget workshop at 8:30 a.m. on April 30 at the Board of Education building in Bayboro. It is open to the public.

• Melanie Dixon, director of the Pamlico County Health Department, provided a quarterly update. The department received an $18,000 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grant. They requested that Teresa Clark, who is currently contracted with the county, be hired full-time as the food and lodging/FDA grant coordinator. The health department requested to pay for digital advertising with APG-Media of East Carolina, a year in advance. The board said they will consider their requests.

Consent Agenda (routine items voted on that usually don’t require discussion)

• The board approved county opposition to the Cherry Branch-Minnesott ferry tolls. 

  • The ferry is currently free. The NC Senate passed a budget to add a $5 one-way charge to the Minnesott ferry. The county introduced the idea of a “commuter boarding pass” of $150 a year for the ferry.

  • The county is lobbying to strike down the move at the NC House of Representatives before the budget is sent to the governor for approval.

Correspondence Agenda (discussion required, not routine)

• The board approved a 25-year lease agreement between the county and the county library.

  • The county will own the building and will be responsible for funding the library and maintaining the new building.

    • The library requested that the county fund $343,552, which is a $20,000 increase from 2025.

      • Consists mostly of salaries, health insurance and maintenance of new building.

  • The library is responsible for service obligations including utilities, hvac, a janitor, trash, gas, and etc.

Budget Meeting Items

• Pamlico County’s General Fund (GF Cash), or the money that is in the savings account, is $11.9 million with an additional $1.9 million set aside for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Last year, the county ended with $12.8 million in GF Cash.

  • $7 million is unrestricted funds. The rest of the money is designated to specific uses.

  • $1.9 million is for disaster relief such as hurricanes.

    • Any amount of money used for disaster recovery can be reimbursed by  the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Counties, however, are responsible to have money “up-front.” The county has $1.9 million from ARPA to spend specifically on disaster recovery, but there’s an option to use more money for disaster recovery, which will be reimbursed by FEMA. Counties are limited to the amount of money they have in their bank account due to their responsibility for the initial amount.

• The federal government recalled FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Community (BRIC) grant money that hasn't been used yet. BRIC was given to communities to reduce damage done by disasters.

  • The county had a $7 million BRIC grant from Hurricane Florence. They used approximately $1 million, and have $6 million unused.

    • They have completed soil studies and design. The remaining money was planned to be used to build the infrastructure.

    • In these types of grants, the government doesn’t provide funds up front, but instead reimburses the county once the county has done work.

  • The grant was intended by the county to rebuild/improve sewer lagoons in Oriental and spray fields in the Reelsboro community.

• Projected $600,000 budget loss.

  • In March’s budget meeting, the projected loss was $700,000.

  • The county won’t be in debt, as Pamlico’s savings account has a fund balance to cover it– the expenses were greater than the revenue made. (Which is like saying “someone's bills are more than their paycheck, and may have to dip into savings accounts to get the money needed.”)

2025-2026 Fiscal Year

• The county manager recommended the county to be cautious with funding, cutting all capital expenses unless it's an emergency.

  • Buying vehicles, tools, fixing floors, etc. are all considered to be capital expenses.

• There is a projected 2.5% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for employees.

• The county plans to release current vacant positions.

• The county is increasing health insurance by $47,000/4%.

• Workers compensation increased $10,000/4%.

• Property liability insurance increase is $43,000/10%.

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