CPCC to make $38.7 million pitch for county funds

Last winter, Central Piedmont Community College lost its voice.

People calling the college’s main campus and six branches could be heard, but the callers couldn’t hear who they’d dialed.

The school blamed its aging telephone system and Tuesday, President Tony Zeiss is expected to ask Mecklenburg County commissioners for $1.5 million to replace it. That request will be part of CPCC’s overall $38.7 million request as County Manager Dena Diorio prepares to unveil her recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.

The funding would go to salary supplements, benefits, maintenance and repairs, security and utilities.

The request would comprise 18.5 percent of CPCC’s expected operating budget of nearly $208.7 million. It would be $5.6 million more than Mecklenburg allocated CPCC during the current fiscal year.

Since February, Diorio has considered requests from dozens of county departments and organizations that receive county funds in the recommendations she’s scheduled to make on May 28.

With an expected surplus of at least $20 million, she’s expected to recommend that the county property tax remain the same.

Forecasts for the coming fiscal year continue to be promising, with property tax revenues projected to be 1.5 percent over the current year and sales tax collections 4 percent more than 2015.n late February.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, LUESA (Land Use and Environmental Services Agency) officials will request a 2.5 percent fee adjustment for demolition permits, the fourth adjustment since 2012. Before then, fees had not been adjusted since 1997 and a 2011 review suggested the agency experienced a 15 percent shortfall in recovering costs.

The agency requested a 20 percent adjustment rolled out over five years.

If solid waste officials get their way, household fees will rise $2 to $17 a year, which would generate more than $1.2 million in additional revenue to replenish the capital reserve fund. The last adjustment came in fiscal year 2009-10 when fees rose from $12 to $15.

Solid Waste wants to use $400,000 from capital reserve for construct a liner for the Foxhole Landfill off U.S. 521 near Pineville. The remaining $887,000 would be used to repair asphalt, buildings and replace heavy equipment.

They’re also requesting raising the dump fee at Foxhole from $39 to $41 a ton. The last adjustment came in 2009, when the fee was raised $2 to $39 a ton.

This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 1:49 PM with the headline "CPCC to make $38.7 million pitch for county funds."